Not an expert, but here's my best guess. When I learned to fly a small plane, you pulled back the yoke at a specific speed. This is called 'rotation' and lifts

Not an expert, but here's my best guess. When I learned to fly a small plane, you pulled back the yoke at a specific speed. This is called 'rotation' and lifts the nose of the plane off the ground, (wheels are still on the ground) and changes the attitude of the wings, creating substantially more lift for the speed. The plane then lifts quickly off the runway. Presumably different possible weights in a larger plane would cause you to choose different speeds at which to rotate. I also presume rotation is also a more gradual process in a larger plane (a few seconds long???), so the 'early' part of the rotation occurs, gets the plane off the ground, and allows the space for the angle to become steeper in the later part of the rotation. Would be happy for an expert to review and comment on this.