Leaderboard

Whilst I agree in aerodynamic principal with Perfs suggestion, I would suggest that it is better to practise moving the stick to neutral (centre) position as you pick up speed, rather than trim nose down. Why? If you have any exponential set on your elevator, it's going to mean you are moving it into an area that is more sensitive and you'll have less fine control as a result as you try to rotate the a/c to flying attitude to leave the ground - this could (and I say could because it depends on the level of curve set in the controls) result in an inadvertent stall if you don't have a very sensitive feel for the elevator. For my takeoffs I personally follow this particular sequence: 1) Stick aft when taxi-ing or at stationary 2) Power to 50% to initiate roll 3) Right rudder - enough to compensate for torque dragging nose left 4) Small amount of right stick to compensate (this will vary with strength of any crosswind component) 5) As speed picks up beyond running pace, throttle up to 100% 6) More right rudder to compensate 7) Stick steadily to neutral 8.) Lessen right rudder and right stick input as speed increases 9) Nose will automatically tend to drop as speed picks up and tail starts to fly - can be helped with some very slight forward stick; just a breath! 10) When tail wheel is off ground hold stick in neutral till speed >90mph 11) Gently lift nose - and I mean gently, does not need much asking at all! 12) Voila! You are airborne! 13) Gear up 14) Reduce revs to 2800 (~84% Prop pitch) 15) Do not immediately attempt to climb steeply; let your speed build into a very shallow climb (sufficient to be avoiding such inconveniences as trees, buildings, high ground, NBA basketball players, etc) and don't start climbing proper till you have at least 150mph on the clock. Best climb in the Spit or Hurri is ~160-170mph Indicated Air Speed, you should be looking for a climb angle at which your plane can hold this speed. You'll need to trim the rudder to reduce the effect of torque induced wing drop at these speeds but it's easy once you have the hang of it. This is not a do-it-this-way-or-die thing (except for point 15 - I would recommend everybody adopts this approach to climb out); Perfs suggestion certainly has mileage, and ultimately, whichever works for you is the way to go.