Taking off in I-153 Chaika

[dduff442]

The vertical stabilizer will help keep you straight as you approach takeoff speed. It's the torque that forces you off course, so the solution then is to keep the torque low enough for easy controllability until the stabilizer starts to become effective. All you need to do is to apply the throttle gradually so that you're already travelling at 60-80kph before you approach full throttle.

The tail wheel on the I-153 isn't lockable, so you won't get any help there. If it were lockable, holding back the stick on the early part of the takeoff run would apply downforce to it and further help control the torque.

These are good things to do on any takeoff run if you have the patience. IIRC the I-250 can't be kept on the runway without taking both these precautions. Try that one if you think the I-153's tricky!

dduff

[IceFire]

I would throttle up more quickly. Start slow but then really ramp it up... at some point you should have enough wind over the control surfaces to counter the torque. But until a certain point the control surfaces are useless. Never really had a problem taking off in this plane... just get the throttle up and get some speed quickly and have a steady hand.

[AndyJWest]

I suspect this is a case where the quicker you can get airflow over the rudder, the less time it has to start a swing. I might even try holding brakes on while opening the throttle full, though I'm not yet suggesting it as a sensible technique.

As dduff442 says, ithe I-250 is another aircraft with problems with swing - and the lack of prop clearance complicates things too. Personally, I find it best to take off (and land) using piston power only - this is probably how it was done in real life.

[jezprior]

I think I have found the problem. I wasn't getting full lock from my twist joystick - maybe only 25%. After some encouragement I can now take off right as rain with no trouble whatsoever.

[Lonely Ringer]

other than your joy stick, step on the brakes and wind up the engine to full then release and use rudder to control direction, some earlier AC did not have tail wheel lock and needed the "prop wash " to make the rudder effective ( like in float planes) and is usefull here also. The torque on the older radials is no where near what the more modern ones were and with the needed invention of the tail wheel lock to make the ground steer possible the inline engines were easier to handle but still in need of the " prop wash" to give the rudder extra bite... like on some RC trike planes the rudder is connected to the nose wheel to help steer at higher rpm's , remember that the stick becomes more sensitive at these higher rpms so easy on the input .... happy trials !!