30 degrees would do it. It would take about one second to straighten
out during the start of the takeoff roll, and since the takeoff roll is a
necessary maneuver to fly most 172s, there would be minimum ... er...
impact on the takeoff.

Reminds me of something wierd that happened a few years back. We were on a
company outing to Southern California, flew into John Wayne Airport.

On the way out, we were in an MD80 or something. The Plane was waiting to
pull onto the runway. The engines revved up, and the plane accelerated,
kept going, turned 45 degrees, and launched down the runway. I've never
been in a plane that accelerated through the turn onto the runway. He never
slowed down, or stopped accelerating from the hold position. Freaked me
out. Its bad enough that they shut down/throttle back the engines for a few
seconds after takeoff for noise compliance. I know that runway is short
too.

Anyone familiar with this?

Dave