"Maule Driver" wrote in message
...
On a 3 person flight from Newark to Albany one night, the flight crew
decided to do a max performance takeoff on one of Newark's 10,000'+
parallels. Full power with brakes, release, aggressive rotation, stall
horn, the whole bit. I didn't appreciate it but by the time I realized
what was going on, we were climbing into a crystal sky and all is well.

I had a kind of opposite experience a few months ago, on a Dash-8 (I think -
it was a little twin turboprop, anyhow) from Norwich to Manchester. They'd
already cancelled the Norwich-Edinburgh flights because it was too windy at
the destination (basically the further north in the UK you went, the windier
it got) and the verdict was that they'd have a go at the Manchester flight
because it wasn't as far north as Edinburgh and everything looked like it
would be within limits when we got there, and there were presumably some
sensible alternates available.

The approach to Manchester was tremendous fun for anyone who knew (a) how
crosswind landings were done and (b) that the pilot wouldn't be attempting
it if it wasn't within her or the aircraft's limits. For the uninitiated,
however, bumping down the approach with the right wing pointing markedly
downwards, then landing on the upwind wheel first provoked a large
collection of white knuckles and more than a few involuntary gasps!

David C