What do you think about before you wiggle the rudder?

How do you prepare for a takeoff? Just wiggle the rudder and as the wing starts to roll, fix it with the aileron, when the spoilers open, close them.

Make sure you are doing the checklist in its entirety. As my Mom likes to say "giving lip service to your checklist." As she enjoys pointing out, especially on the occasional gear-up landing.

Spoilers are a control and should probably be included in the control check. On an SGS glider, it is listed as Dive Brakes closed and locked. I always unlock, open fully, and then close them. Why? Because it is embarrassing when the spoilers open on takeoff.  Worse than embarrassing is if you crash at the end of the airport because you cannot climb.

I once had an ASW 20 behind me while towing in the Super Cub and we were a lot closer to the trees than I normally care to be. I was actually reaching for the handle because both of us were not going into the trees. Then we made it over and back into an open field where he eventually realized what was going on. This was after radio calls from the ground and visual signals from the towplane.

I watched 2 new Schempp-Hirth owners not realize that the over-center on the spoilers was much stronger than what they were used to. However, if they had opened and closed them it would have been obvious that they were not locked yet. So, I always open them all the way open (to make sure I can get full travel) then close and lock and make sure that I get the pop of the over-center.

Many times when I am doing a flight review in the Grob 103 with someone who owns their own ship, they start with the stick most of the way forward. Then sometime after passing a normal lift-off speed, they realize the nose is too low and we launching into the air. So when I teach my students I don't just say to bring the stick aft of neutral in the SGS 2-33. I ask where the nose is and where they want it to be to lift off.

Same thing when doing a 1-26 and 1-36 (we have the taildragger version) checkout. We always talk about where you want the nose, how to get there and then I pick up the tail to get the nose to where they are going to want it for lifting off. That way they have the elevator in the correct position to get the nose where they want it to fly. Back to the Grob, they normally are still waiting for some type of change, until the towplane is airborne and there is still no change happening...

The same thing goes with the ailerons. You know what is going to happen with the crosswind the upwind wing is going to get picked up, we know that from moving the glider around on the ground. So if we have a wing runner they can help us by holding the upwind wing a little low, you can help them by not using full opposite aileron. That way when they let go you drop the downwind wing with force. Generally when the pilot is fighting against me, my motivation is to run farther decreases at an exponential rate.

Many airports have Wind T's or tetrahedrons so we know the concept of weathervaning. Few prepare for it until it starts yawing on them. This is very important to us because we do so many crosswind launches. Many times you will end up off the side of the runway if you let it start weathervaning on you.

Before you wiggle the rudder get the controls set to counteract the movement you know is going to happen and get the glider going in the direction that you want. Nobody wants to go off the edge of the runway...

Photo: Roberto Ruiz

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.