Common sense DAR/FAA

[APACHE 56]

Last week I was issued my Phase I/II limitations. Since I'm up against the Atlantic Ocean here in Cape Canveral and I have an experimental engine I was stressed over the "25 mile" limit. My DAR a retired FAA inspector and his boss from the Orlando FSDO came up with a common sense, good idea. They gave me a 25 mile limit for the first 10 hours and 100 mile limit thereafter. Needless to say I was very pleased and impressed with that solution. Sometimes "one size does not fit all."

Don

[Mel]

Glad to hear you got a reasonable flight test area.

Actually we have quite a bit of freedom in this area as long as we keep it reasonable.

Obviously a 200 mph RV needs a different test area than a 75 mph Cub.

Most all DARs I know are very reasonable in this respect.

We know that you have to fly straight and level sometimes.
You can't just fly in circles for 40 hrs.

[N8RV]

When I read "common sense" and "FAA" together, I had to read the thread!

I had a similar experience. My DAR gave me the standard 25-mile radius for Phase I testing but, having read here on VAF that others had been successful in pleading for a larger area, my DAR went back to his FSDO and requested a 25 x 100-mile corridor, wherever I wanted it.

That worked out really well for giving me plenty of room to do testing, and I located the corridor over a bunch of other airports, which gave me lots of emergency landing fields, just in case.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

[DEWATSON]

My inspector came from the Orlando FSDO. He was a super nice fellow and the inspection was free. He gave me an odd shaped Phase I area because of the location of airports with fuel in my area. He was very easy to work with.