I saw a demo at the McChord AFB airshow. Blew away every demo except the Canadian solo CF-18. The C-17 [obviously empty] did a max power short takeoff that while I certainly exagerate, appeared to be airborne in about 6 aircraft lengths. Literally got airborne clawing its way intot the sky, did a 45 degree bank angle mid field right over me and my son and journeyed around for a min-length landing. Max break landing did not appear realistic for such a beast. Screamed to a stop and proceeded to back up the same length of the landing with max thrust reversers.
Out came the 5x7 foot american flags and the crowd went wild.
Freaking amazing!