This actually reminds me of a question I have for you airliner types.... Was flying out of Florianopolis in Brazil a few years back. I wanna say we were in a 737, but I don't think the type is that important. We were climbing, and maybe 1000-1500 ft AGL and all the sudden the pilot is trying to pretend this plane is a fighter.... We're basically doing the scissors, but I can't see the plane that's supposed to be attacking us, or the plane we're supposed to be attacking. All I know is that I'm in the window seat, and one minute I'm seeing nothing but sky, the next nothing but land (and sea). Then sky. Then NotSky. Probably a good 4, maybe 5 times. While climbing. And he's pulling enough G that we still feel "down" through our seats more than towards whatever wing he's pointing at the dirt at the moment.
We didn't fly that crazy pattern coming into Florianopolis, and I've never had the opportunity to fly out of there again, but it was bizarre enough that I've tried to find out if there's some kind of terrain clearance or noise abatement thing, but nothing that I can find....
So, was our pilot just a little screwy and missing his days in the Brazilian Air Force?
