I remember vividly my first flight in the 727. On the take off the pilot put the plane into what seemed like an impossible vertical angle, pushing everyone back into their seats like no 707 I’d even been in.
I just knew that the plane had to stall out and crash, so when he nosed it back down and we had what seemed like a moment of weightlessness I felt my stomach coming up. Prayer seemed like a good option since I didn’t think I could get to the cabin to stop the madman at the controls. But the plane leveled out and I settled back uneasily for the rest of the flight.
When we got to Washington National, I looked out my window and saw we were flying paralell to the landing strip, a common approach pattern for small planes, but we weren’t very far off from the strip, and I was used to the long slow approaches of the 707. Instead as we passed the end of the strip, the pilot put the plane into a steep turning bank and again I thought: “He can’t do this. Is this FAA approved and legal? Lord if you get me off this plane, I’ll never fly again.”
Of course, the landing went smoothly and I flew in that model many times over the years, but I never quite got over that feeling on takeoff that the plane just couldn’t do that vertical 45 degree angle another time.