A B737-700 First Officer's takeoff rotation was critiqued by the Captain so while concentrating on the Captain's rotation technique he raised the flaps with the 'Landing Gear Up' command which caused the low speed warning to alert.
Synopsis
A B737-700 First Officer's takeoff rotation was critiqued by the Captain so while concentrating on the Captain's rotation technique he raised the flaps with the 'Landing Gear Up' command which caused the low speed warning to alert.
Narrative
While preparing for departure at the gate; the Captain brought up the subject of rotation speed (the rate of pitching up). The night before with a very light aircraft it was the Captain's opinion that I rotated too fast. We discussed this issue for five or six minutes. I agreed with him and noted (to myself) that I would watch his rotation on the current flight to try to get a feel for what he wanted and to compare it to what I usually feel is normal rotation. On the takeoff roll at VR; the Captain rotated and upon a positive rate called for landing gear up. Shortly after that; we received an Air Speed Low warning. The air speed indicator did not look correct for that configuration to me. I checked to see if we had both engines operating and the Captain advanced the power to max take off. At the very instant; I noticed that the landing gear was still down and the Captain noticed that the flaps were in the up position. We corrected the configuration and continued our climb. At altitude; we discussed the event. We both agreed that we remembered verifying the flaps position while doing the check list. We also did not have a Configuration Warning horn. The only likely conclusion was; I was distracted by paying close attention to the pitch command and rate the Captain was using and when he called for 'landing gear up' I must have retracted the flaps. I don't remember retracting the flaps; but there was no other logical explanation for the misconfiguration. During critical phases of flight; complete concentration should be paid to the task at hand. I believe that complacency led to this mistake by diverting my attention.
Second reporter narrative
After becoming airborne; I called for gear up. The pilot not flying was concentrating on watching my rotation rate and instead of putting the landing gear up. He raised the flap lever from position 1 to the up position. I failed to notice the error. My first indication something was happening was seeing the flight director command a lowering pitch. I thought this odd; but followed it and started to look around. We both noticed the airspeed was not accelerating even with the lowered pitch and asked aloud if we had an engine problem/failure. The newly installed aircraft aural alert (Airspeed Low) sounded and; as this was a reduced thrust takeoff; I overrode the auto throttles and manually pushed the power up to the green climb N1 setting. I was prepared to select emergency thrust if things got worse; but the extra thrust seemed to be helping. It was then I noticed the flaps were up. I announced; 'You raised my flaps;' and I reset them to flaps 1. At this time; the pilot not flying noticed the gear was still down and he raised the gear. Everything returned to normal very quickly after that. My timing in mentioning the previous night's abrupt/rapid rotation could have been better. I had thought about it that night and thought I should mention it before we parted company. This was the last day we would be flying together.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.