In a message dated 3/1/2009 4:30:01 P.M. Central Standard Time,=20 2luv2fly@cox.net writes:

<= FONT=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=3DArial color=3D#000000=20 size=3D2>
Group,

For those of you have "been there - done that",= =20 disregard this note.
However, those of you who are still building and w= ill=20 eventually need an
airworthiness inspection, I urge you to give serious= =20 consideration to those
who you let inspect your airplane and issue you=20= your=20 airworthiness
certificate, along with your operating limitations. I urg= e=20 you to employ
someone who knows the airplane you are building, its=20 idiosyncrasies, quirks
and what it takes to accomplish the Phase I=20 testing.

There has been some discussion recently about someone=20 accompanying you
during flight testing and that it was a definite "No -= =20 No". As discussed
this week with our local FSDO, it is still the intent= =20 that no one accompany
you on any flight during the testing phase. Howev= er,=20 there are exceptions
available when your operating limitations are prop= erly=20 interpreted. One
example of someone being essential to the purpose of t= he=20 flight is the
calibration of the AOA. In the AOA installation manual, i= t=20 specifically
states that two people are recommended while calibrating t= he=20 AOA - one to
fly the plane and one to calibrate the instrument. I'm sur= e=20 there are other
instances where another person in the plane is essentia= l to=20 the purpose or
safety of the flight. Our FSDO requested that if we have= an=20 additional
person in the airplane that we please notify them of the pur= pose=20 and date of
the occurrence. To me, that sounds very reasonable and puts= you=20 in the
position of being a "team player".

Our discussion with th= e=20 local FSDO was a surprise phone call, but not
totally unexpected becaus= e of=20 correspondence forwarded to them recently
(from this list) by someone=20 questioning another person in our airplane. As
a result of this,=20= I=20 would caution all of you to choose your words (and
pictures) wise= ly=20 and think "what someone else would think" about any post
that you=20 make. By the way, does ANYONE have personal knowledge of a
violat= ion=20 or enforcement action against a pilot operating with a person /
pilot i= n=20 the co-pilot seat (with a declared and planned PURPOSE) during
phase 1=20 operations?

Tailwinds,

Ed Smith
Chesapeake, VA
N9JE -=20 Flying!!

--
For archives and unsub=20 http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/lml/List.html