When building plastic models of planes in Poland, we always had to put something heavy into the front of the model, so it did not go into a takeoff position. I then wondered if the pilots needed to be the heaviest people on the plane to achieve the same effect in real life. (OK, I just made it up. Not even the small me could have had such a ridiculous thought...)
I still find it quite fascinating that these heavy birds can hit the ground so graciously, and drive around on these relatively tiny rubber tires.