Area restrictions for test flights

[painless]

A picture is worth a thousand words. I made a copy of my operating area in my local sectional map and outlined my requested area on it. Gave my DAR a better idea of what I was requesting. Could prove to be more convincing than describing the area you want to operate in.

[Greg Arehart]

So, here was my experience. I asked the FAA guys for a larger area and the reply was "standard is 50 nm." No joy arguing about needing to test at lower altitude, and break in engine at lower altitude. At the last minute, I mentioned that my buddy around the corner had received 100 nm (and from one of the two FAA guys that was there). Second FAA guy says to the first "is that true?" First guy says "yes, it was a high-performance airplane - Greg, how does yours compare to his?" To which I responded "its basically the same airplane" (which is true) and so the second guy says "so you can have 100 nm."

Helped make my day and gives me room to breathe. And now there is clear precedent for a larger test area for RVs, at least out of the Reno FSDO.

greg

[Webb]

I asked for a larger area. I printed out a map, used a highliter and drew it out. Normally he gives a 25nm circle and rv's get a 50nm circle. Problem is there are not many airports in those circles and 1 is class C and in a large city.

I asked for roughly a 90 by 90 nm square and got it. I now have somewhere around 17 airports in it. I consider this an improvement in safety.

My base airport is close to the eastern edge of the box and goes west. A very large portion is over the Mississippi delta there is very little there.

If you make the request reasonable with justifications that includes safety, I'm willing to bet you can get what you want.