Quite a few plusses/minuses about the relative merits of such a manoeuvre. Suffice it to say that those of us who learned to fly in the sixties/seventies are not the least surprised by the skill and awareness of a guy I would love to have flown with.
It is not surprising either that the ex-Navy, Truckie and Coastal Command contingent seem to find this a normal day in the office. We were trained to manoeuvre at low level, over the sea too, and be aware of the missile/small arms threat. In the past, I can remember coming back from one sortie on a dubious day, with salt spray all over the windshield. No sweat.
All this has changed since the reduction of ex-military retirees into the airline business. We are now expected to fly in aircraft that have little direct law control and flown by crews who will fly, well or otherwise, mainly to pay off their phenomenal training costs. Sound experience appears to be at a premium. All they really know is how to punch in the flight data, autopilot in at a 1000 and cruise for hours at 37000 feet glued to the screen, to finally Cat II it at the other end in gin clear conditions.
It will change again in the future when people think and realise that flying a proper aircraft like a 727 or a DC9 had such good manual handling characteristics to teach us our business.