Amateur/Home Built/Experimental
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20; Flight Crew Total 900; Flight Crew Type 600
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
The weather was clear; unlimited visibility with light winds from the east. During a short briefing earlier Runway XX was declared the active runway unless winds change. Many aircraft had arrived since; and all of them used Runway XX. I taxied north on the taxiway to the end of Runway XX and after finishing my runup I made a radio call: '[Callsign] taking Runway XX for takeoff...'; but as I turned right to enter Runway XX and line up I noticed to my surprise a yellow Citabria taxiing south on the runway towards its south end; without making a call. It then turned right which looked from my perspective as it was leaving the runway into the grass parking on the west side of the runway; and disappeared from my view behind the peak of the slightly crested runway. The ends of the runway are not visible from either takeoff position in a small airplane. After believing the other plane had cleared the runway and no radio call came from it; I finished lining up and made another call: '[Callsign] takeoff Runway XX for south departure'. I accelerated and as soon as the tail came up I saw to my horror the Citabria accelerating towards me. There was a row of airplanes parked to the right and I remembered the grass to the left was used as a runway; so I veered left between 2 taxi lights and at the same time brought the plane into ground effect; now heading for a line of trees. Fortunately I just had enough speed to climb without stalling and made (according to witness accounts) a rather spectacular steep and turning takeoff. The rest of the flight went as planned and upon return the other pilot approached me with a sheepish grin to shake my hand. Although still upset I took it and asked him to please use his radio and stay on the same page with everybody else; using the preferred runway. His only comment was that it turned out all right anyway. Unrelated to the incident the runway was later changed to Runway Y; because the wind turned to north east. Fortunately no damage occurred and nobody was hurt.
Experimental pilot reports discovering on the takeoff roll that a Citabria that he thought had left the runway is taking off in the opposite direction. Evasive action is taken by the reporter; steering off the left side of the runway and becoming airborne shortly thereafter.