Wolfgang, in "Stick and Rudder," emphasised our two greatest resources: airspeed and altitude. We manage them by trading one for the other until the first runs out and we have to go to the other. In maneuvering flight, except in the mountains, we have to start with airspeed. If we burn it up trying to get over something we can't get over, we are in a bind. That is why we seldom try to go over something we can safely go around.

The gut reaction to pull back on the stick is not instinct, it is a learned reaction reinforced by many iterations. The only way to extinguish it is by many iterations of staying ahead of the airplane and finding the safest way out. I have many iterations of finding down hill to be the safest way out.

Maneuvering flight, including takeoff and landing, is uncomfortable for those who make little use of the rudder to manage adverse yaw and to direct a course to a ground target like the numbers.