Still do not understand why pilots have no "feel" for what the a/c is doing & an awareness of tail strike body angles on & just after lift off.
The 'feel' differs greatly depending on how accurate the trim setting has been calculated. That can also change the initial rate of rotate as well as the response to it.
SASKATOON, when lightly loaded most CSMs make announcements regarding passengers remaining in assigned seating until after take off. It probably still occurs to a certain extent and as I said before, inaccurate trim can contribute to a tail strike. It may have been a factor but I'd be surprised if we ever had enough information to know.
Someone once said to me that tailstrikes on the 767 are a bit like gear up landings in lighties, those that have and those that will. I personally don't subscribe to that theory but I also acknowledge that aviation is a dynamic environment and that things like this can happen to the best of us even when we get most things right.