How much did you trust your aircraft by the end of Phase 1?

[rmarshall234]

Get a parachute and have someone teach you how to use it properly. It the flying part goes sideways just change hats and go for a skydive instead. Having a parachute and a well rehearsed "plan B" is a tremendous comfort for the "what if" stuff that goes through your head whilst up there.

[N546RV]

Originally Posted by rv6n6r

I think the real question is, will you actually be done in time to fly your 40 hours off without rushing through the final build or Phase 1?

I had high hopes of finishing and getting my time flown off in time for OSH 1996. By the time I finally did, it was 2000

Randall

Honestly, it's kind of that thought that got me thinking about this. My general intent has been to hopefully have the airplane flying by March or April, which would leave me 3-4 months to do Phase 1. I have the benefit of living with my airplane, so no drives to/from the airport to fly or work on squawks, and hopefully I'll still be working from home most of the time vs being back to commuting five days a week.

That said, I'm starting to get skeptical of my chances of having this thing airworthy six months from now. I'm not sure if this is a legitimate concern or just me feeling a little cynical while being overwhelmed by all the myriad systems decisions I'm making right now. I do think it will require a strong work ethic to achieve that goal, and I question whether I can/will maintain the necessary momentum.

Anyway, that thought process led me to considering what would happen if I didn't fly until, say, May. Could Phase 1 be done in two months? Maybe, in my situation, but then I started imagining basically signing the thing off a week before going cross-country, and wondering just how wise that was.

Realistically - as so many of you have pointed out - there's no blanket answer for any of this. The build will take as long as it takes. Phase 1 will take as long as it takes. After those 40 hours, I'll either have lots of confidence after a trouble-free period, or some concerns due to things I've fixed recently, and as such either I will or I won't feel OK taking the thing on a trip.

I guess the thing to reiterate, to Paul's point, is that while I have a goal of doing OSH 2021 in this plane, it's not do-or-die. Heck, if it's not done, I'll just have my fallback goal, which is for it to be done in time to fly to NC next October for my parents' 50th anniversary.

[Flying Canuck]

I had 55 hours on the Hobbs over 7-1/2 months when I left for my first major cross country - 6.5 hours to Denver. I didn't have trust issues with the plane, did have a few ground handling issues but no in flight problems. That trip ended poorly with a hard landing at an airport a little more than an hour from home. That wasn't the plane, it was the pilot. Fast forward 3 months and I was at 90 on the Hobbs when I left for a cross continental trip. Pilot was better this time - hard knocks are a great teacher. This trip really worked out the kinks, I had numerous breakdowns - all on the ground. Apart from the large inconveniences of having problems away from home, this was a very good opportunity to improve the plane and pilot.

14 months later, I'm now at 204 Hobbs, my ability to handle the plane in a variety of situations is always improving, I don't expect that to change. It's kind of like a relationship, you can settle in, get comfortable and let it stagnate or you can invest fully and watch it thrive. The plane is developing into a reliable partner and we are getting to know each other, in a manner of speaking. My point is, this is not an overnight thing, it takes time. But the growth really comes in the challenges and cross country trips present the best challenges.

[leok]

I did my 40 hours using the EAA test cards in a little under a month. I had very few issues to resolve that affected safety of flight, and those only minor. As part of my test plan, I made two 4 hour flights within my 100 nm flight box trying different altitudes and cruse settings etc. When it came to the first cross country of about 600 miles, it was shorter than my longest test flight.

Looking at the question from another side;
The worst thing I can do to myself to take the enjoyment out of a project is to set a hard timeline .... then it becomes too much like work!
If you really want to finish by a fixed date, realistically estimate the time required to finish, add 25-50% then divide by the days/weeks left. If you can't put in that many hours each week, then you know early on that it's not going to happen.

Confidence in the aircraft and your comfort in flight will come with time in the aircraft once you have it in the air. Funny to think of now, but I orbited high and within gliding distance of the airport for the first 2-3 hours. Then I would fly straight from airport A to airport B with as little time in between as possible. It took about 10 hours and several inspections before I became comfortable going out to the practice area and focusing on flight testing without keeping a runway close at hand.

Enjoy the process. Most of us will only get to take this journey once in our lives!

[Dave12]

Originally Posted by Vlad

Finished Phase One within several weeks and ran couple hundred milles xcountry right after. My RV is all stock barebone day VFR I felt pretty confident.

Good to hear you finally got out of phase 1.

[airguy]

6 days after I signed off Phase 1, I launched from west Texas to Oshkosh.

Now I packed a tool kit and a few spare parts, don't get me wrong - but I still went.

[rv6n6r]

Originally Posted by N546RV

Honestly, it's kind of that thought that got me thinking about this. My general intent has been to hopefully have the airplane flying by March or April, which would leave me 3-4 months to do Phase 1.
[...]
that thought process led me to considering what would happen if I didn't fly until, say, May. Could Phase 1 be done in two months? Maybe, in my situation, but then I started imagining basically signing the thing off a week before going cross-country, and wondering just how wise that was.
[etc.]

Sounds like you have the right attitude about not rushing to get it done. And assuming you can focus on it without a lot of distractions (and no big issues show up), a couple of months doesn't seem unreasonable to get through Phase 1.

So assuming that all those stars line up, then coming back to your original question I would say that yeah speaking for myself I would have been comfortable making that trip on the heels of Phase 1 -- or as comfortable as anyone ever is making that pilgrimage, which can be daunting under any circumstances! But reading between the lines it sounds like this isn't your first rodeo.

[bruceh]

It took me well over 4 months to finish Phase 1, due to some electronic/avionics issues (manufacturer caused). After those issues were resolved, I was able to basically get my last 20 hours done in just a few weeks. I think the airplane was ready to be trusted at the end of Phase 1, but me the pilot was still the weakest link. I had come off a 23 year hiatus in piloting, so it was a bit daunting to do any long cross countries. We did fly out to visit our kid in Colorado for her birthday in October with about 50 hours on the Hobbs. We flew out over the Grand Canyon checked off a bucket list item, and we had a wonderful weekend. How else can you go from California to Boulder, CO for a weekend? That trip really started gave me more confidence to plan and fly longer trips.

[tadsargent]

How confident were you in your airplane after phase 1.

I had confidence in each of the first flights if have completed on rollout of the first flight otherwise i would have aborted the flight. Lets be honest it is a machine built by humans. Confidence comes from experience in the design and manufacturing of the machine. Double, Triple, quadruple check everything, then check it again. When you push the throttle full forward on the first flight now is not the time for questioning anything.