"Dan Luke" wrote

Is it possible the pilot decided to abort after he was airborne?
Surely not. There was not a place to land, anywhere. Plus, he did not push
the nose down, at all.

The engine sounded strong and the airplane came off fine at rotation, then
it seems to run out of steam. Or was that simply due to its climbing out
of ground effect?

That would be my guess. It also looked to me like he pulled the nose up, a
tiny bit more, and without the ground effect, that was all it took to get on
the back side of the power curve.

That in itself is a good lesson to be learned. Try to practice recognizing
the back side of the power curve, in slow flight.
--
Jim in NC