How long did it take you to fly Phase 1 testing?

[Webb]

It took approximately 2 months. The first 20 were fly, tweak, and test. The next 10 were more fun with more flying and less tweaking. The last 10 were lots of fun with mostly flying.

It truly does take about 20 hours to get most of the bugs out. In the first half, plan on shorter flights and getting it right early.

My 2 cents.........

[Jim Kiloh]

I got my airworthy cert on July 5th 2008, I thought that I would easily make LOE in October, but the reality is 6 months have past and only 15hrs on the hobbs!!
Some small ignition problems for a start delayed first flight then 5 days after first flight we had a hurricane Ike blow through, then medical problems hit first a broken foot, (broken during the hurricane) delayed further flights, then back problems which resulted in back surgery delaying flight testing even further! Needles to say LOE came and went with only a handfull of hrs on the hobbs. I have just been released by the Doc to start flying again, so 6 months after airworthy I can resume flight testing. Hopfully have the forty flown off by the begining of March. If it goes to plan it will only have taken me 8 months to fly the forty hours!!

Hopfully you will have better luck than I have had, just don't cut any corners to meet your time line.

[N402RH]

The RV-4 had a 25 hour phase 1 and it took 4 months, I was a very low time pilot and it took a while to get used to flying it. The plane was also at an airport that was around a 30 minute drive from home.

Nine years later I finished my RV-10 and I am fortunate enough to live on an airpark, it took 11 days to fly the 40 hour phase 1. The next day I loaded it up with my three kids and we headed for Oshkosh.

Rob Hickman
N401RH RV-4 N402RH RV-10