Depart Home Airport. Right turnout crosswind. Up to test altitude: 8000 feet (home field 5200). Checking off Test Flight Card items, this one for Full Power Cruise at 8000. Set up for that. Stabilize flight. Making notes on my Flight Data Sheet. CHT/EGT; fuel flow....... Woh: how did we get
HERE already??
My (great) DAR was familiar with how fast these airplanes fly. My test area was from home airport (KEIK) 0 degrees North to the Wyoming border, 90 degrees East to the Kansas/Nebraska border NOT including any controlled airspace: a large rectangular test area. Julesberg (7V8) is 137 nautical miles from home. That was my fuel flow destination for most cruise speeds data collection. I had great information on performance and fuel flow going there on multiple flights at various speeds and altitudes. I did not need to be concerned with busting my designated area. That was in 1997.
You need as large an area as your DAR is able to give you. 45 miles?
: that is 13.5 minutes at 200 mph. Flaps up; turn out; climb to altitude; 180 degree turn to home base. No: you need room to set up and stabilize your flight, not having to worry about a 45 mile radius. 100 miles would be a great place to start. These airplanes go
FAST and you need to be concentrating on date collection, flight performance, trim settings, power settings, CHT/EGT, etc. There is a LOT going on when you are (correctly) performing your test flying. I actually found I had not completed my Flight Cards when I was done with my "fly-off" time and I continued my flight testing beyond the required hours. This is NOT a time to be just "flying off" the time. And not the time to have someone else "flying off the time". The more you know about your airplane during this critical time in its development, the less you are likely to "discover" later. Am I OCD? Oh, yeah. My 6.5 year build time is testament to that, albeit an RV-4 being a 'slow build' back then. But that is a GOOD thing when one is building and testing a BRAND NEW, NEVER FLOWN airplane. And after 1220+ hours: No surprises.
IMHO.......