Incident Overview
During the takeoff roll, the pilot of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that the aircraft drifted left of the centerline. He applied right rudder to correct the drift, which caused the airplane to decelerate. The pilot then released the right rudder input to reposition his foot off the heel brake. At that point, he noticed the airplane was rapidly approaching a left landing strip boundary marker. He decided to rotate early, but the airplane continued drifting left, collided with the roof of a hangar, and dropped to the ground, where it caught fire. The airplane was destroyed by the fire.
Pilot Experience and Maintenance
The pilot stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with any part of the airplane prior to the takeoff roll that would have prevented normal flight operations. The pilot's most recent flight review was conducted on August 8, 2009. He had accumulated a total of 165 hours of flight time, with 7 hours in the same make and model of airplane.