What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Take-off Technique

ColoradoSolar

Well Known Member
First let me say I don't have many hours in my 6A so I am still trying to get the "feel" for the plane.

Now on to my question. I know you are suppose to get the nose wheel off the ground asap. I am trying to do that and start with the stick full aft. I guess the issue I am running into is I am not sure when to start releasing the back pressure as I can't tell when the nose wheel is actually off the ground. Can someone tell me step by step what the procedure is and what clues I can use to know when the nose wheel is off the ground? I understand that mostly it is going to be "saddle" miles to get the feel, just want to have a better starting point. If it matters my home field is 8300ft and lately DA has been around 11k
 
Stick full aft. Apply throttle. As nose starts to lift, release back pressure just enough to keep the nose from going any higher.

You won't feel the nose wheel lift off the ground, but it will be off. When the plane lifts off (it may skip a little) release stick pressure to keep the plane flat to 80 mph and 20' or less above the runway, then apply back pressure to hold 85 mph to TPA, then go to cruse-climb.
 
Last edited:
My nose comes off in the mid 40's and I hold it off and we start flying at 67. Look down the runway. You should be able to tell when the nose is up.
 
Technique

It may help to sit inside (with the engine turned off) and have somebody outside raise the nose wheel 3 inches off and then 6 inches to give you an idea of how it "looks" over the cowl.

I agree with the other suggestions above, it is hard to know exactly when the nose wheel lifts off. Everything happens very quickly and a lot of the technique is in the feel of the stick as speed builds up. I think it is important to have elevator trim set to neutral.

You also don't want to "yank" it off and have a tail strike. I find it will just fly itself off when ready and then accelerate in ground effect to build up speed before climbing.
 
Equipment

CS PROP and 180 HP and you would likely not asked this. Whatcha got under the hood / out front ?

Me, 160 hp, cruise FP wood prop. 15 degrees flaps, stick back, she flys off.... at 85kts, retract flaps, climb out 110-120kts. Enjoy you 6A.

Yes, your density altitude will make for A longer ground run, a not as energetic climb.
 
Last edited:
Here's a chart of pitch angle vs ground speed on some arbitrarily selected flight. You can see that the nose comes up between about 20 and 30 knots (I have no idea where cg was this flight). Most noteworthy is that it is only about 2-3 degrees of pitch increase. I don't have the exact dimensions of gear wheelbase, but IIRC it is around 3" up on the nose wheel.

It is also apparent where I relaxed back pressure slightly, to get the nose back down to about 6 degrees from 8, just after breaking ground. This was so that I could accelerate at 10-20' of altitude up to 80 knots. Once hitting about 100 knots one can see I rapidly increased pitch to a good RV climb out.

A very good practice is to come in for a normal landing, but rather than touching down, try to maintain a foot of altitude for as long a time down the runway as runway length allows. This will take more power change than you might expect, as you will be in a high drag situation, even when in ground effect.

Another very good thing to practice is touch and goes without letting the nose wheel touch. This takes some dry runs in the hangar, going over exact steps, as things will happen very fast. Land with full flaps, flaps up to half, trim back to takeoff, power as necessary to keep nose wheel up, increase power to full as trim reaches takeoff position.
 

Attachments

  • Takeoff pitch N66AP.jpg
    Takeoff pitch N66AP.jpg
    26.5 KB · Views: 242
My nose comes off in the mid 40's and I hold it off and we start flying at 67. Look down the runway. You should be able to tell when the nose is up.

Bolded statement above is the key .. look down the runway. I'd add look as far as possible down the runway. If you are looking down the runway, you will notice the visual change, at which point you will know that your nose wheel is no longer on the pavement.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Lots of good things to think about.

I try to look down the runway but I am still probably actually looking to close.

I have a Sensenich FP (not sure what the pitch is but it is a climb prop) and an O-360 so not lacking in power.
 
Back
Top