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While considering your first flight, try to ask yourself these questions:
1. Am I going to insure my Aircraft for damage and liability? If so, will I use AVEMCO? If so, am I an EAA member? If so, do I want coverage during the first 10 hours/10 landings? If so, I should utilize the EAA Tech Counselor and Flight Advisor program. The extra eyes and help with the test flight plan is well worth it, along with liability protection starting with the first flight.
2. Should I ask other local builders, who have successfully certified their airplanes, what are the local FAA peculiarities? Never ask the FAA a question for which you don't know their answer. Local builders can usually suggest an "experimental aircraft" compatible DAR for the "inspection".
3. Should I ask for a test area greater than a 25 statute mile radius? The 25 or 40 hour limit won't matter much if you have a decent flight test area. Consider a test area appropriate for the speed of the airplane and that it encompasses safe areas (to the people on the ground) for tests. Remember that even mild aerobatics must be performed during the test flights if you want certification for those maneuvers after the test. Include Navigation aids (VORS, etc.) for flight testing purposes and airports where repair facilities are available so that if you have a problem which would require an avionics shop (Xpdr tests, etc) or other repair facility, they would be available to you. Use these arguments to justify the larger flight test area.
4. Can someone else be in the plane and still satisfy the FARs? Consider that a required crew member can accompany you during a test flight. How else are you going to record engine parameters throughout its range of operation? How else can you test instrument flight instruments without someone looking out the window? How else can you record criticla flight data while safely flying the airplane? I think you get the drift. 91.319 (d) (1) implies another person may be aboard. See 91.305 for test flight area. Also, if you are an EAA member, go to
http://members.eaa.org/home/homebuilders/government/operations.html
and you will find the text of all the "restrictions" including one that should be on your airworthiness certificate:
"(9) During the flight testing phase, no person may be carried in this aircraft during flight unless that person is essential to the purpose of the flight."
5. How can I be as safe as possible on the first flight and protect the aircraft that I spent so much time building? Get a test pilot who has tested many Lancairs such as Mike DeHate or Don Goetz, et al. Here's why:
a) They will do a thorough pre-flight check of your airplane because they know exactly what to look for and the common mistakes made by builders that reach this point.
b) They are experienced test pilots, sharp on Lancairs, and mentally equipped to handle any in flight emergency. Are you?
c) They are excellent "essential to the purpose of the flight" people during your familiarization. They have seen it all from every seat in the airplane.
Good Luck,
Scott Krueger
LNC2 - N92EX
EAA 579 Tech Counselor
_________________________________________________________________
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