To all those that responded. Thanks so much for your comprehensive answers - such is the joy of being a member of PPrune.
As I thought they might , the answers raise a couple of questions and at the risk of going off thread ..................
In the climb and while banking the angles seem acute at least to an SLF. I stand corrected but I recall hearing on Bruce Dickinsons Heavy Metal him saying the pilots were not allowed to climb at an angle of more than 13 degrees . Does that apply (under normal circumstances) to the decent ?Banking angles seem way more than 13 degrees.
Another question is about how much turbulance an aircraft can deal with. It was explained to me once (by a Flight Engineer on 747's) that if a 747 was dropped from 50 feet it would not sustain any damage and that gave me huge peace of mind , particularly when the aircraft has had a heavy landing.
also
A question I have always wanted to ask : We talk about "having had a good or bad flight" which can depend on many things . But what about in the cockpit ? As a general comment , what makes for a good pilot? Is it flying the aircraft in such a way that the flight is smooth or perhaps his /her ability to stick to time schedules, good communications and so on. Granted it could make for a huge topic but it's just a question.
Thanks in advance for the responses.
Babaleka