Pilots are a strange breed of cat. They truly love only one thing, flying. They will do anything to fly. Any excuse, no matter how trivial or contrived, could be used as a reason to take to the air.
Countless times I have made the 100 minute round-trip flight from Frankfort Indiana to Mattoon Illinois on a nice Spring day solely for a plate of bacon and eggs. I love to fly! That excitement I feel after my pre-flight checks are made and the engine run-up sequence completed, when I point the nose down the empty runway and ease the power up full all the way to the hilt - is like no other experience! The takeoff run!
Even non-pilots I know get a buzz from it. When I have to fly amidships in a commercial DC-10, I look around as we are on the first seconds of the takeoff run. I see a lot of faces buried in their Time magazines, but I know their minds are not really fully understanding the words they are reading at that time. Three turbo-fan General Electric CF6-50C2's doing their level best at ninety-six percent power output! The whine they emitted while coaxing the ten around on wheels has blossomed into a smooth, deep throated roar. My turn, folks, now watch this!
That moment when the weight of all that machinery and people and clothing and cargo transfers from the wheels to the wings is magic! It flies! Like a bird! The plane seems to be in a righteous nose-up attitude, but still gathering speed all the time! A few bumps and clicks and you notice the movement seems to get even smoother as the gear retracts into the storage wells; the leading edge devices and flaps fold themselves smoothly into the wings.
A smooth arc, usually to the left, but maybe to the right, always while climbing. The roar of the thrust is replaced by a hiss of the the air slipping by the skin of the cabin. A diffused sound whose source is no longer pinpointed at the site of the engines. Some minutes later, the excitement of takeoff is replaced by the routine of level flight. But it is still flying!
