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Neglect not thy rudder... (Part 1)

DrillBit

Well Known Member
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Neglect not thy rudder on take-off for lo the Laws of Physics shall smite thee full sore.

A week ago, Sunday, I let my RV-9A make an unintended left exit from runway 25R at Livermore. On takeoff. I’m as dumb as a bagful of hammers.

Most VAF pilots will probably learn little from my story. But confession is good for the soul, and humble pilots may still, I pray, become better pilots. If they work for it….

The What

Winds were calm, visibility 5 miles, mid-morning temperature 86 F, altimeter 29.98, DA 2200 ft. Held the brakes and pushed in full throttle to verify static rpm and fuel flow: both normal. Released brakes, began tracking the centerline, and as always, input a touch of up elevator to relieve nose gear loading as soon as possible.

I was heading slightly left of centerline as the airplane started feeling light on its feet, then it turned even more left just as the wheels left the ground. I started rolling to the right, then immediately back level as I was a few feet AGL at most.

Now I was past the left edge of the runway, and the airplane didn’t feel like it was at flying speed. Deciding that “saving” the horrible situation would likely make it worse, so I chopped the throttle and the mains were on the (desiccated) grass in short order. I held the nose up and didn’t apply brakes until she came off the grass onto taxiway Charlie. I overran its centerline. The right main apparently left the pavement briefly as I turned back and stopped, past the hold short line for runway 25L.

Tower called, “Eight Papa Kilo, do you need assistance?” The roll felt normal as I came to a stop, so I replied, “Eight Papa Kilo, let me taxi off 25L to the south hangar’s west ramp,” which lay straight ahead.

As I pulled off the alleyway and shut down, I tried to take stock. No physical injuries to the pilot. Walk-around found no bent or dented metal, no dings or scratches on the prop, but both main gear wheel pants were completely FUBAR. One must have clipped the destroyed 25R runway light that airport maintenance found along the—ahem—path of unintended flight, as shown in the glorious Google Earth KML.

Meanwhile, airport maintenance swept away the FOD I dragged onto taxiway Charlie, and normal ops on both runways resumed. The maintenance tech was then dispatched to make sure I stayed put pending notification of the powers that be. He put his smart phone on speaker: it was humbling, to say the very least, recounting the story to airport staff and NTSB officials on duty over the holiday weekend. It was blinking obvious what I did wrong, but I struggled to understand why I let it happen.

There being no injuries or substantial damage, the morning’s follies were classified: Incident. NTSB would have no further involvement. I started up again, sheepishly asked Ground for taxi to the north hangars, and began a self-imposed safety stand down.
 
Neglect not they rudder... (Part 2)

The Why

Had the incident turned out worse, the NTSB probable cause would undoubtedly cite the pilot’s failure to apply right rudder and maintain directional control during a full power short field takeoff.

How could the pilot forget such a fundamental concept? From initial roll to the decision to abort, “More right rudder!” never crossed my mind. I thought about it all week, and I think it comes down to Proficiency and Complacency.

Proficiency, lack of. I’m an inexperienced babe in the aviation woods to be sure. Pvt Pilot ASEL, barely 125 hrs. Ordered the RV-9A tail kit in December 2005, about 90 hrs in my logbook, almost exclusively in Cessna 172’s. Medical expired soon after, and during the subsequent 13-yr “ultra-slow build” aviation funds (when available—put two sons through college in the same period) went exclusively to the project.

I got back in the air in May 2018 but didn’t find a compatible CFI and flight school until October. Flight review was signed off in November 2018, and I took a few more flights thru the end of the year to get truly comfortable with landings. (Takeoffs never an issue!) Altogether an additional 10 hrs logged in the mighty C172.

N748PK got its pink slip January 2019. A more thorough inspection by EAA Chapter 633’s Technical and Flight advisors turned up several items that had to be corrected. It wasn’t until April that I got down to San Diego for transition training in an RV-7A. (Still working a full-time Silicon Valley job to support all this, ya know….) Another 7.5 hrs in the book. My flight advisor agreed to be Additional Pilot on the first flight. With scheduling a chase pilot and whatnot, it finally happened 13 July 2019.

Phase 1 has proceeded at a slow pace. At the end of January 2020, with a whopping 14.3 hours on the Hobbs and less than 10 on the tach it was time for the first condition inspection. I’m blessed with a job that adapted well to work-from-home, but even without COVID disruptions I would have still only gotten out to the airport on weekends.

Finished up the inspection on 1 May and put 5.5 more hours on the Hobbs by the 10th. CHT’s in cruise were reasonable and the engine had been consuming nearly no oil from the get-go. I was up to the Vx & Vy test card in the EAA Flight Test Manual. Thinking that un-faired climbs would be substantially different from faired, I decided to finish all the gear fairings before further flight. I’d also read some forum posts claiming fairings knocked 10-20 F off CHTs. It took six weekends to put Eight Papa Kilo’s pants on.

All but climb-out CHT’s were good when flight tests resumed in July. They had consistently topped 400F before reaching pattern altitude from the start despite 110-120 knots indicated airspeeds. Leveling off, then very shallow climbs to altitude minimized time spent above 400 F, but clearly some big cooling leaks had to be fixed before doing 60 knot 3000+ foot climbs.

I finally discovered two huuuuge leak paths at the inboard edges of the upper cowling inlet ramps. Used some duct tape to prove redoing the front baffle seal was worth it. The Hobbs read 26.6 after the last flight on 26 July 2020 when I tackled the job. Which brings us to the fateful day, 6 September 2020, when new and improved baffle seals were no help at all when der Flugzeugführer utterly botched the take-off.

The upshot of all this? The day of the accident incident was 42 days since my last flight. I had flown a total of 42.9 hrs over the last 2.3 years. Almost 25% of that time was in a C172, a wonderful airplane but not known for instilling keen rudder skills.

That’s simply not enough flying to be sharp, let alone moderately dull! And it’s not just negotiating wind shear at 300 feet AGL and 30 knot gusty crosswinds. Rust creeps into the most fundamental aspects of basic airmanship if you let it, and boy howdy I think I let it.

An additional factor is the number of takeoffs and landings in Phase 1. An RV9A doesn’t need anywhere near 75% power to hold pattern altitude and maintain separation from 80-90 knot Pipers and Cessnas festooning the pattern. I avoided pattern work pending solving the high climb out CHT problem.

Finally, why was I executing a short field take-off with maximum left turning tendency at all Livermore’s 25R is 5300’ long—solid margins for a -9A in Phase 1, even on a day heading for triple digit temperatures. On almost all prior takeoffs, I advanced the throttle slowly with brakes free, up elevator to unload the nose wheel, and had no off-road experiences.

Well, among the NotKosh 2020 presentations I had recently viewed was Mike Busch promoting brakes on, full power starts for all take-offs. Make sure the engine(s) is(are) developing full power before rolling. Maybe good advice for an ASEL pilot prepared for the extra torque, P-factor, and spiral slipstream. Poor advice to a schlub like me who didn’t think through the potential consequences.
 
Neglect not thy rudder... (Part 3)

Complacency, surplus of. Why were potential consequences so far from conscious thought? I’d done plenty of short field take-offs during primary training. No big deal when the “short” field was almost always 5300’ long with an imaginary 50’ obstacle out there…somewhere. The the left turning tendency of a typical flight school C172 vs. a -9A with a new IO-320 on the nose? Didn’t give it a thought. What’s more, I had executed a short field takeoff that turned out just fine on the previous flight, albeit 42 days ago.

But was that take-off, indeed were most of my solo RV-9A take-offs, just as fine as I want to remember them? In truth, I’ve been all too lazy on the take-off roll, drifting off centerline, usually to the left, and correcting direction at liftoff with a gronk of aileron instead of immediately fixing it on the roll with a timely application of rudder.

Similar behavior on landing roll out. I was dead center over the numbers, wasn’t I? So I cheat a bit towards the right hand turn off I’m going to make anyway, what’s the big deal? I know I can’t get into interesting 50 or 35’ wide airstrips until I put in serious practice, under the care of a CFI if necessary. But the plane’s got unsolved high CHT’s that must be taken care of first. Plenty of time to build in pattern work once that’s done.

And that my friends and critics (I deserve the latter mostly) is what’s known a normalization of deviance. The plane goes a little left on takeoff, but I can handle it. I always have before. Until I didn’t.

The Future...

Thinking about the next flight in N748PK fills me with dread. Was this incident an unmistakable message from on high? I don’t have the right stuff anymore (if I ever did)? Get out before the gods smite you full sore.

Recognizing dread as a healthy response to last Sunday’s events, I’d rather harness it towards positive steps forward to return to Eight Papa Kilo with confidence, as well as caution.

Those steps include:

  • Flying more—at least twice a week.
  • Commit the time do so. I’m likely in the home office for a long time to come. Per my signature, there’s simply no excuse for not getting out to the airport to maintain proficiency. My company still gets their full share of my time, if not more with daily commutes on hold UFN.
  • Don’t go 100% build/tweak to the complete exclusion of flying. It’s important to squelch every squawk found in Phase 1 before the next flight, but not flying for weeks on end is its own hazard.
  • My next flight will be with a CFI for certain. Eventually hope to find a CFI who’s proficient in the right seat of a -9A, but that’s off the table for now. My BFR is due in a couple months anyhow.
  • Since it can’t be -9A, spend the dough to fly something besides a C172. Unfamiliarity of any kind strengthens the aviation muscles and promotes focus—the opposite of complacency—even if the new ride is nothing like a -9A
  • Yes, I hear all the “real” pilots on the forum screaming in unison, get a tailwheel endorsement. Find out what the rudder is for!
  • Last thing: I’m looking for a silhouette of a runway light to paint on the side of N748PK’s fuselage. Suggestions?
 
The Damage...repairs in progress

Once N748PK was back in the hangar I removed all gear fairings, main and nose. No damage at all to the nose gear or its fairings. The main gear legs, their fairings, and upper intersection fairings were unscathed.

The right wheel has some minor (?) gouges on the outboard rim, and a small piece of the shattered

The left tire’s outboard side wall was cut: it has a small inner tube aneurysm peeking out. The right brake line had evidently been forced against the edge of the brake caliper.

I have two new main tires on order and decided to get Michelin Airstop tubes for them while I was at it. I won’t know if the left wheel is 100% serviceable or not until the tire is dismounted. I hope blending in the gouges is all it will take. I’ll replace the brake lines on both sides with the same 3003 Al tubing.

Then, of course, all those lovely hours fitting, fiddling, and finishing a new pair of main wheel pants to look forward too. Van’s got the web order on 7 September…and then the factory shut down due to the Oregon fires.

How 20-freakin-20 is that? Looks like I picked the year to quit…
 

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Thanks for sharing. The most important thing I took away was your willingness to learn from your mistakes. As Viper said in Top Gun, "keep sending him up."
 
More Rudder

Had a crosswind wake up today. Just as the tail wheel was coming up I was suddenly heading to the left side of my home base 50 ft runway even though I was applying right rudder for pfactor and left cross wind and stick to the left to keep the wing down. What the heck is going on!

Anyway thinking about it afterwards - the left crosswind was being somewhat blanked by adjacent hangers when I started my roll. Soon as I cleared the hangers and with the tail coming up the full effect of the crosswind suddenly hit. I pulled back on the stick and had enough speed to get airborne and clear the high runway lights. Power pretty much saved me as I didn’t react quick enough with a whole lot more right rudder.

Also- on a landing some time ago I suddenly had a much higher than normal sink when I flared. That time it was those hangers as well. I was correcting for a left crosswind that went way down when I got in the lee of the hangers.

Left crosswinds are rare at my home airport but you need to pay attention there and anywhere else that has adjacent obstacles.

Another lesson learned!
 
good writeup

Since it can’t be -9A, spend the dough to fly something besides a C172. Unfamiliarity of any kind strengthens the aviation muscles and promotes focus—the opposite of complacency—even if the new ride is nothing like a -9A
Thanks for sharing this Kurt - I think it's a lesson for every pilot. I know I think about exactly this thing when I'm doing stuff like flying, skating, unicycle, golf, etc. If you don't do it regularly, you won't be good at it - or at least won't be as good as you can be.

Flying requires a lot of hand-eye coordination and motor skills, and most humans require time to develop these and to retain them. Additionally, we are not used to moving in 3 dimensions, the conditions vary greatly, and our stress level is higher than in most other daily activities due to the consequences of error.

One of the challenges I've seen is that when I'm taking a golf shot or trying to keep the tail of the aircraft where it's supposed to be, thinking about it makes it worse. Kind of a catch-22 - you want to be mindful of what you are doing, but that breaks the flow. I think this is overcome with lots and lots of practice - you don't think, you just flow.

Thanks again for sharing this experience, and I hope you get it back in the air quickly.
 
Thanks for this honest and very well written report.
Guess your self analysis covers it all. Complacency is one of the bigger threat for anyone pilot, private or pro.

Again, thanks for sharing and all the best towards a prompt recovery.
 
This is a terrific post series.

As a CFI, I wish like heck that my students maintained this level of awareness, analysis and humility when evaluating performance. I try to lead by example by telling them about my Stupid Pilot Tricks moments over the years, but I need them to understand that a mistake is a chance to improve.

Normalization of Deviance is a real thing, and it's insidious and creeps up on you. Like fatigue, you don't notice it until it's potentially too late.

Hat tip to your lesson, sir. Glad pilot and aircraft intact. You will not make that mistake again. :)
 
Kurt,

Go find a local flight school with a conventional gear airplane and get your tail wheel rating with your BFR. That will for sure teach you how to coordinate all three flight controls and make you a significantly better pilot.

Schu
 
Kurt-

Thanks for sharing your honest and candid self evaluation.

It's probably easy for me to say, but I'm going to say it anyway; Don't beat yourself up about this. I've been hanging around airplanes for a lot of years now and on the spectrum starting with "Normal Flight" and ending in "Catastrophic Life Ending F-up", Your experience is hardly a blip on the screen. I know it doesn't feel like that now, but it's true

As an instructor with not-insignificant experience, I can tell you sincerely that people with your attitude usually do well, learn from an experience like this, and are better people for it.

Your action plan for the future, sounds good. Don't try to fly so much that you make it a grind and start dreading it, but 10 hours a year and no flights at all for the last 6 weeks isn't nearly enough to maintain proficiency for someone with only 125 hours in the log book.

Theres nothing wrong with branching out to something other than a Cessna, but here's nothing wrong with sticking with a C172 either. Let your CFI know what happened and that you'd like to spend some time getting really precise with rudder work and lateral control.

You're correct in that the Skyhawk is a super forgiving airplane. Plus it has nose wheel steering, so it's always going to track easier than something with a fully castering nose gear like an RV. However, it's not like you can't develop good habits in it if you have the discipline to do it.

Final thought; There are people who go through their flying career fat dumb and happy, making worse and worse decisions, always shedding blame or minimizing/justifying consequences. Sounds like you're not one of those people.

You've learning from the experience and will likely be better off for it with no cost other than a bruised ego and some wheel pants, so it's probably a bargain.
 
I am not a believer in full power prior to brake release, except under dire circumstances. Airflow over the rudder is really important for directional control. Some airplanes don’t even have enough rudder authority for full power prior to brake release, like the P-51.

It’s also hard on the prop, especially for nose gear aircraft, as stones and other debris can get sucked up and cause damage. If you really want to see how effective the prop is at full power, run it up over a water puddle and you’ll see a pretty good sized tornado between the water and your prop.


Glad it all worked out ok with just minimal damage.

Vic
 
Unintended runway excursion on takeoff.

Early in my RV7A flying I had a few high stress moments on takeoff. Just after the weight came off the mains, the plane instantly departed to the left (left crosswind). Posted a video on the forum years ago.

Got some interesting feedback. Some not so nice. But one mentioned dragging a brake. Sure enough that was the cause. I tracked the centerline with right rudder, but didn't realize I was also dragging the right brake. So when the weight on the mains decreased, I didn't have enough rudder to keep going straight.

The builder sets the rudder pedal and brake pedal relationship. My shoe size is 12 and I had put rubber tubing around the rudder pedal tubes to get a better clearance between the rudder and brake pedals. After realizing I was dragging the brake I added additional layers of tubing. Never had the issue again.

Dragging the brake might be a contributor to your directional control issue.
 
Kurt,

Go find a local flight school with a conventional gear airplane and get your tail wheel rating with your BFR. That will for sure teach you how to coordinate all three flight controls and make you a significantly better pilot.

Schu

This is very good advice, you need to build confidence and skill. Tricycle gear masks, covers up and makes us appear that our skill levels are adequate when in fact they are not. A tail wheel checkout is a wonderful way to learn how to really handle an aircraft on the ground. That plus it’s good fun and you’ll come away a much improved pilot.
 
I am not a believer in full power prior to brake release, except under dire circumstances. Airflow over the rudder is really important for directional control. Some airplanes don’t even have enough rudder authority for full power prior to brake release, like the P-51.

It’s also hard on the prop, especially for nose gear aircraft, as stones and other debris can get sucked up and cause damage. If you really want to see how effective the prop is at full power, run it up over a water puddle and you’ll see a pretty good sized tornado between the water and your prop.


Glad it all worked out ok with just minimal damage.

Vic

+1

Just a quick visual, and the math is by no means 100% accurate, but in a typical light GA aircraft, the horizontal stabilizer and elevator are about twice the effective surface area as the vertical stab and rudder. Thus, you can raise the tail at about 1/2 the airspeed needed for enough rudder authority to keep her out of the weeds on the left side of the runway...
 
Oops

Good post Kurt: Don’t beat yourself up, everyone including the hi time guys have their own stories that became a lesson. +10 on your awareness of what happened and what it will take to improve. Glad damage was relatively light and no one was hurt. Full power before brake release is a good idea in theory, but can be problematic for a number of reasons. For a steer by brake plane it’s probably not the best technique and with any crosswind from the left not a good idea that gets worse as the wind gets stronger (assuming you don’t have the rare left turning engine) Get some training, tell the CFI what you need to work on. You gonna be fine.

Don Broussard
RV9 Rebuild in Progress
57 Pacer
 
Kurt,

You're a great writer and a good story teller...as a 4000 hour pilot (from 12 years ago) I can tell you that your fear about returning to flying after time off or a problem is normal and even when I had a few thousand hours I was apprehensive if I hadn't flown in a week or two. It's pretty normal.

Anyone who examines their behavior as much as you have is someone we all WANT flying...so hopefully, you'll stick around.

But in case you don't - I'm looking for an RV-9 and so you've got lots of options!!!

Keep doing what you're doing...the results will follow the good behaviors.

Brian
 
Most of us trained on low powered aircraft, Cessna 150s. These planes are about the same size as our RVs but with much less power. A lot of time training is spent on short field, or over obstacles. The take home message is to get to full power ASAP. With the docile handling directional control was not an issue, now with an RV you have a different animal, one that gets up and going quickly. Suddenly all that ingrained trading about short fields and obstacles is not as important as it was before. You typically have a lot more time in an RV to get airborne. It is no longer necessary to quickly advance the throttle. Take your time, start moving slowly, maintaining directional control. Try to advance the throttle to get the same rolling speed as you did in the 150, once you are under control slowly advance throttle until you are at full power. Even slowly advancing throttle will get you quickly into the air
Do not beat yourself up, take time to enjoy that acceleration.
 
You will be a better pilot fir this. My friend had 4000 hrs of instructing, much of it tailwheel conversions, but tailwheel, nosewheel, doesn’t matter. You are not the first guy to lazy tracking centerline and won’t be the last.

If he had a student who was consistently not tracking the center he would have him put his hands in his lap and work only the pedals and the instructor would work the stick and have his feet on the pedals for the save. It sounds pretty sketchy but this guy was so experienced he was way agead of the student and the airplane. They would do takeoffs and the student was expected to track +/- 6 inches of center. If he didn’t he would get a running commentary and if he still didn’t the volume would increase to motivate the student. Ok, who am I kidding, he would get screamed at and called names. Think marine drill instructor R Lee Ermy from Full Metal Jacket. “WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION NUMBNUTS!”. Bruce had that rap down pat :D. It works! It probably saved many airplanes and a few lives.

It is such a critical thing and usually the axis that gets the least attention when it should get the most. In this training the excuse of crosswind or a low tire or something else was not accepted. Deviation due to brake release at full power would not be accepted either. “You are the pilot, you are in charge, the aircraft is your BITCH, don’t let it fly you!!!”. When it comes down to it, it is not really skill, you have the skill, it is a mindset. You have to be proactive and aggressive, not reactive and passive. Not only with a tailwheel but any airplane. Tailwheel guys tend to have this problem less because their airplanes are already more demanding in the directional axis. Cessna drivers are the worst because they have grown to expect their airplanes to track perfectly on their own. They are so stable and easy to fly that they usually do.

So from now on don’t let yourself stray more that 6” from the centerline. Think of that guy screaming at you and you’re Pyle.
 
And since it briefly popped up in the thread... left crosswinds are something to be careful of. We already have right rudder in for the P-factor, and that leaves less for the crosswind.

I've thought for a long time that the crosswind capability is less for a left one than for a right one.

Dave
 
Your humility, self-awareness and go-forward plan are all to be commended, as they show that you've got what it takes. I know I've had a couple of my own moments of "self-realization" where, in hindsight, I had to ask myself "what the heck were you (not) thinking/doing???"

And, we will get those wheel pants off to you as soon as we can. Don't let a lack of wheel pants keep you from flying.

Very well written. Thanks for helping us all to be better pilots though your experience.
 
Very well written. Everybody makes mistakes, learning from those mistakes are up to the individual. I have heard many pilots say that getting your ticket is your first license to learn.

When I first started driving truck in my 20s my very first trainer told me "the day that you think you know everything on the road is the day you better hang up your keys because someone is going to get hurt". 10 years of driving around the country and those words never left my mind. I definitely had my share of oh sh*t moments. I preferred to let them teach me.
 
Heartfelt thanks!

Folks:

Thank you! Thank you all for your supportive words and constructive advice. I really do appreciate it. Means a lot.

There seem to be a lot of “Can’t find a -9/9A to buy, not even for ready money,” posts on the forums lately. Sorry to say, I shan’t contribute supply to meet that demand for the foreseeable future. :D

Best regards to all,
 
Hi Kurt,
A -10 is not a -9, of course, but a rudder is basically a rudder in all planes. I’d be happy to take you for a short ride in my -10, and offer an honest assessment of your skills, if you like. Let me know.
Bob
 
Sorry to say, I shan’t contribute supply to meet that demand for the foreseeable future.

Proper and correct statement! We do hope you'll contribute to the cycles on the KHAF runway soon, as the wx is moving away from fog-all-the-time. You will likely be able to get a free lunch from the local VAF squadron (2x -7 "da cool boyz", 1x -10, 1x -12, 1x -rocket) Lots of local ruskie Yaks to shoot down for fun.
 
Good writeup! This is what I worry about as well--proficiency. Super low hours (80, mostly in C172), last flew in 2008. I'm spending 100% of my time building and 0% flying. I'm in Livermore too, so hopefully won't end up in that same grass area when I start back up again!
 
I never liked the soft aluminum brake lines looped around the lower leg of the main gear. Very vulnerable to damage. I fly off of a grass strip and noticed even tall weeds were damaging the aluminum tubing. With a free-castering nose wheel, differential main wheel braking is the sole means of directional control while on the ground, so it’s important that it works when needed. On my RV-12, I installed Aircraft Specialty Teflon brake lines with stainless steel over-braid. The brake line stays at the aft edge of the landing gear leg for good protection.
 
bjdecker;1462101....Just a quick visual said:
Your physics aren't quite correct.

The need for control power is based on the moment (torque) that you're trying to control. If the moment needed to raise the tail is greater than the moment due to the engine and prop, then more pitch control is needed than yaw.

Also, control power is based on the airspeed squared, remember?

Dave
 
Kurt, excellent writeup!
And definitely something you will learn from, glad there were only a few bruises to the ego and the wheelpants *G*

Regarding rudder:
left crosswinds are something to be careful of. We already have right rudder in for the P-factor, and that leaves less for the crosswind.

Never experienced a situation (at least with our 7A) where the rudder authority would have been at the limit/not enough or less effective towards the right because of the p-factor (once that is compensated/neutralized of course). You step on the right foot instinctively anyway, then just a little more, but never been close to the control stops...

I would actually raise awareness to the reverse of Kurt's scenario:
strong crosswinds from the right!
that's at least my biggest gotcha so far on the RV...
Once you have that right foot instinctively engrained with the experience of many RV takeoffs, it becomes extremely counter-intuitive to ever use left foot during a takeoff run. But this may be required - and very suddenly!
With really strong crosswinds from the right, the aircraft will want to weathervane and can do so, as the free-castering nosewheel does not stabilize, additionally you already put in a lot of right rudder anyway out of instinct, which only assists the weathervaning. With these circumstances, the nose can suddenly break out at least 20-30° towards the right!!!
In my case, the runway was very wide and we were flying by the time we would have hit edge lights but the startle effect was extremely stunning and discomforting! To this day the only time ever when I thought "wow, what was that?" flying the RV...
 
Hi Kurt,

As others have said, great analysis and self-critique. I'm confident that you're skills will continue to improve based on the tone of your post.

I've got a bunch of time in RV-3's and a Midget Mustang after having started my tailwheel experience in a 7AC Champ and various Citabrias. Some have suggested that you might consider a tailwheel endorsement. I'm a big fan of this because I think it makes most pilots better on the rudders, but it might not be the be-all, end-all solution.

I recently purchased a Glasair 1RG that has a swivel nose wheel similar to the -A RVs where one uses a combination of differential braking and rudder for steering. I can say that I'd be VERY nervous about applying full power before starting my takeoff roll in the Glasair. That swivel nose wheel is a whole new challenge. I'm sure I'd figure out a way to keep it on our 50' wide runway, but I don't think it'd be pretty. As someone else said, at some point in your piloting career, you'll develop the "make it do what you want" attitude and ability. I'm quite certain I didn't have this at 125 hours TT. I'm not sure I had it at 1,250 hours TT.

I'd do a full static power takeoff in my RV-3, but I'd definitely be aware of the potential issues. My -3 will be in the air in 900' even at 8,000' density altitude, so I don't *need* the additional performance of a full static run prior to brake release. I also *really like* my 3-bladed Whirlwind constant speed prop and I don't want to abuse it with a full power run with the brakes set. I swept the concrete apron in front of my hangar before I did the dynamic balance on the prop!

I doubt you're going to put yourself in a position to need absolute maximum performance to depart in an RV-9A at 125 hours total time. I think I'd save the maximum performance ANYTHING until you've got a couple hundred hours in the plane. The fact is that our RVs will outperform most spam-cans without herculean effort.

Don't let your adventure get you down. Most of us who've accumulated much total time and time in different types have at least one similar story to tell.

Best regards,

Rod
 
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