True, there's few crashes into water, but they dive a bit. that's because the pilot blacks out for a brief amount of time, and the plane drops during that process, its just that usually they dont crash because they're pulling up with all their might.
Also, no, an apartment building is way too small. Catapults aren't a problem solver, it just helps the plane get a little extra momentum, but to take off from a building roof that small you NEED VTOL. Runways are always several thousand feet long.