Originally Posted by
thermostat
Another very important point. Never "double rotate" i.e. rotate to say 8 degrees and stop, then rotate to 15 degrees. When at 8 deg, the aircraft may leave the ground but will not climb more than a few feet. So there you are flying just a few feet off the runway then you rotate a second time, driving the tail into the ground. With a constant 3 degrees per second, as the angle increases the rate of climb also increases. This allows the tail to descend towards the runway at about the same rate as the aircraft is ascending. A win-win situation.
Know your airplane.
I have to admit that I did both in the 727. A continuous 3° per second rotation to 15° and sometimes a hesitation at about 10° pitch later in my timeperiod flying them, but the mains were still on the ground for the momentary hesitation. I don't believe that Boeing says anything about a slight hesitation being the way to do it.
Constructive criticisms are welcome.