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How many of you flew your maiden flight?

Did you fly the maiden flight of your build?


  • Total voters
    253
If someone has the slightest concern about flying their aircraft's maiden flight, then perhaps they shouldn't.

Call them justifications or rationalizations, either way, here are things I considered when deciding to do my own first flight.

1. The aircraft is a well proven design, despite the EXPERIMENTAL placard.
2. I drove every rivet and tightened every screw and bolt in the aircraft, giving me complete confidence in its integrity.
3. There were several besides myself that inspected the aircraft.
4. The aircraft passed its FAA inspection without any discrepancies.
5. I was well prepared for the first flight by transition training.
6. The plan for the first flight was simple and well briefed.

For anyone interested, I wrote about my first flight experience in my blog at:
http://roughandreadyaerospace.blogspot.com/2016/07/step-144-first-flight.html
 
Work the odds. This is not a time for emotion. If there is a readily available pilot with more experience in type, let them do it.
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+1. As usual, considered comments from Dan. Being your own first flight test pilot can be a bit like choosing to paint your plane yourself when you have absolutely no painting skills....ambition (and cost cutting) can override common sense resulting in a second rate job. The person who does the first test flight should be emotionally detached from the experience, have good analytical skills, and have lots of time in type. If that’s not you ....get someone else.
 
oops...

"...The person who does the first test flight should be emotionally detached from the experience, have good analytical skills, and have lots of time in type. If that’s not you ....get someone else..."

Oops...I guess one out of three was enough...
 
"...The person who does the first test flight should be emotionally detached from the experience, have good analytical skills, and have lots of time in type. If that’s not you ....get someone else..."

I would add that whoever flies the first flight should also have VERY strong technical knowledge of ALL the systems installed in the aircraft. That's one of the reasons I flew my own first flight - because nobody knows the airplane like I do. If I were to have another person do the first flight I would expect them to also do something roughly equivalent to performing an annual inspection on the aircraft prior to the first flight. I firmly believe the pilot of a new aircraft needs to have that level of understanding of how the aircraft systems are put together.

In my case I took advantage of the Canadian equivalent of the Additional Pilot Program and can't say enough good things about having another set of sharp eyes and skilled hands available - the degree to which that additional pilot de-stresses a potentially tense situation can't be overstated.
 
I would add that whoever flies the first flight should also have VERY strong technical knowledge of ALL the systems installed in the aircraft. That's one of the reasons I flew my own first flight - because nobody knows the airplane like I do. If I were to have another person do the first flight I would expect them to also do something roughly equivalent to performing an annual inspection on the aircraft prior to the first flight. I firmly believe the pilot of a new aircraft needs to have that level of understanding of how the aircraft systems are put together.

In my case I took advantage of the Canadian equivalent of the Additional Pilot Program and can't say enough good things about having another set of sharp eyes and skilled hands available - the degree to which that additional pilot de-stresses a potentially tense situation can't be overstated.

What is the Canadian equivalent of the Additional Pilot Program? I am not familiar with it.
 
September 17, 1997

Nothing like posting first flight photo. IF I do some searching, there is a photo of the first landing showing smoke coming off the tires.

7gs-4dh.JPG
 
I have done about 15 first flights. My most exciting first flight was the one I did not do!
This was the flight of my first build, theRV4. I had a total time of 350 hours with most of it tail wheel. However I did not have any emergency type experiences and in 1993 RVs were still a bit unknown in our region.
Our airport manager was a high time pilot and offered to do the job. Of all the first flights this was the most exciting! Seeing something that you banged together in the barn take to the air was a truly joyful experience.
The look on his face after landing was all the validation I needed!
Three years and 350 hours later I asked him to do the first flight on my HRII. He declined because with my currency in the RV4 he felt that I was the best choice.
The flight was amazing but I still enjoyed the one I did not do more!
 
Not really a comment on if you should or should not be the one to fly the maiden flight. I had little question from day one that I was going to be the one flying the maiden flight. I carefully aligned my readiness as a pilot to my first flight. I did transition into a SR22 about 12 months prior to first flight to get to something with a little closer flight characteristics of a 10 (and I did spend a fair amount of time in that plane). I did also spend 3 days with Mike Seager in a RV10 transition training. Not saying that I was as prepared as Elliot Sequin, but three points/comments:

1) I agree with some of the other comments here. You need to be honest with yourself if you are ready. You probably have spent a lot of time getting the plane ready for inspection, how much time have you spent getting yourself ready for flying. Honestly. Both mentally and physically.

2) I did find it a little annoying that this is such a big thing in the community in the sense of this was probably the second question asked by most people that saw me nearing completion. (how many hours have you spent building this, are you going to fly its first flight?). Not that it is not an important milestone, but does it really make me egocentric pilot if I wanted to fly the first flight (and properly prepared for it)? For me, in my situation, it was part of the process that I wanted to be part of. I don't think that desire makes me an unsafe pilot not capable of making good decisions.

3) There is A LOT of stuff going on in the first flight. There is a lot of stuff that you are not going to be prepared for no matter how much you prepare. Going back to (1), are you the type of person that does well in those situations? Honestly. On the other side of that, this is the first flight of the combination of a lot of complex systems in which are not proven. Are you the type of person that can suppress those thoughts and focus on the task at hand of what you have and not what you are missing?

Just my thoughts from my experience (which is minimal). By the way I am only 6 test flights into Phase I and I find the test flights in this stage more stressful than the first flight. At 10 hours on the hobbs, if screws are going to be backing themselves out or cracks getting worse it is in this time frame where we are testing the limits of the plane. The first flight was flown with "kid gloves" compared to these later on flight tests.

First Flight video: https://youtu.be/l3XaopQm2C0
 
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Not sure if all of this has been said before but needs to be reinforced if they have.

1) This is a VERY important event but a MININUM of "staff" needs to be present. Someone to take pictures. Someone to call 911 if needed. My field did not have emergency services other than the fire department several miles away. I did not contact them....

2) Plan on a day but be very flexible about scrubbing the flight. EVERYTHING has to be the way you want it to be. Wind a little funky? Scrub. Runup not quite sounding right? Scrub. Doesn't "feel" right, whatever that is? Scrub. This also relates back to 1) as you want NO one influencing your go/no go decision. You don't need someone with a "Ah, hell; go ahead and fly it!" quip. Nope nope nope and nope. Even if you are at the threshold ready to go and "something" isn't right, some taxi practice back to the hangar is in order. Is this like getting married: if you think about it too much you never will? Well, sort of.....but different......;)

3) My home field usually has runway 33 as the 'calm wind' and most used runway. Winds usually out of the North, slight downward slope of the runway. And: there is not much for several miles past the end of the departure end of the runway. That's the runway I used. Conditions were perfect. I was jacked but not overly so to fly. I still sat for a few minutes to collect myself and mentally go through the first few minutes of the flight. I was ready.

4) Plan the flight and fly the plan. You don't need to "see what she'll do" on the first flight. Does it fly? Yep! Rigged correctly? Yep. Instruments all working? Yep. Stall: what happens? Indicated stall speed? Flaps up and flaps down? My flight was planned to the minute and when I was done, headed back to the accolades from my support crew of three with my kneeboard notes about the flight and my Flight Card #1 completed. I had also mentally flown that flight as much as I could stand with many "what if" scenarios tossed in all the way through it. The flight itself was just going over what I had done so many times before virtually. Your EMERGENCY flight checklist needs to be pressed into your memory. Sit in your new airplane and go over and over things. As I previously said, I could touch every instrument and switch with my eyes closed. There was a sizeable amount of spit in the inside of the canopy from me making airplane noises...:D.

5) Fly many flights in an aircraft similar to yours (or not) out out of the field you are going to use as your test flight field. You want to have firmly in your mind where you are going to go if the music stops. Straight ahead; straight ahead; straight ahead; now that field to the left; now that larger one over there. NOT that one: center pivot irrigator. You also need to know VISUALLY, if possible, where on your airplane are clues consistent with where the airplane is going to get to with the fan stopped. Kind of like flying formation. Practice in type if possible. OK: that field I can glide to goes through the cowling cheeks. That one over there lines up with the wing tip. Know your airplane but KNOW THE FIELD and surrounding area you are going to be using. Runway 15 here is slightly uphill (not a big deal) but the places to land to the South are minimal. And are getting worse as house construction continues. My emergency procedure flights were in the Cub. A lot of them. I was VERY familiar with the area around the field. And with in-flight emergencies as well.

6) Not sure what has been said about high-speed taxi tests. Those are usually a good way to either accidently go flying or wreck your airplane. Taxi tests? Yes. Down the runway if you can so your "sight picture" can be firmed up prior to your actual flight. Just done at taxi speeds....... There is probably a consensus about high speed taxiing......

Again: you know yourself. You also (if you built it and has been previously said) know your airplane like NO one else: every bolt, cotter key, rivet, hose. But YOU will be the one who decides who does your first flight.
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THINK! It's good exercise!
 
I did transition into a SR22 about 12 months prior to first flight to get to something with a little closer flight characteristics of a 10

How useful did you find this? I have the opportunity to get a bunch of hours in a -22. Flying my Mooney is a whole lot cheaper, but if the cirrus is better prep, then I can certainly do more of that.
 
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