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...
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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!