I asked one of my friends who was on the trip if he had any recollections about our take off. He said, "You mean when the plane almost didn't get off the ground and we almost crashed into the water?"

I remember thinking I was glad I was in the back - exits on either side and we had the only seats on the plane with shoulder harnesses.

That reminds me of something. If you are in a packed 737 and it rolls down the runway forever and when you get off the ground the plane starts to shudder, what is that? This was in Burbank

Long roll.............
 

When I was in the Navy in 1971, I experienced the same thing taking off from the NAS Quonset Point runway in Rhode Island. We were in a 4 engine prop plane ultimately headed to Okinawa. The runway at NAS Quonset ends at the edge of the ocean with a 20-25 foot drop from the runway to the water. The plane was loaded to the max and when we got to the end of the runway, the plane dropped down 5-10 feet before starting to climb! Just like the pictures you see of WWII torpedo planes taking off of an aircraft carrier. Let's just say that "I feel your pain"!

Probably landing gear retracting, it ain't a stall.