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Well crud. I was watching that build process, I guess she was doing taxi testing prior to first flight?

Glad she's going to be OK.
 
I've lost track of the number of times i've heard of a high-speed taxi test going badly and writing off an airplane. I don't understand why some people insist on doing them.
 
Snowflake said:
I don't understand why some people insist on doing them.
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Different aircraft require different kinds of testing. In National Test Pilot School, we discussed hi-speed taxi testing at length. The general opinion of our class was that this is not a necessary test for our type of aircraft.

The consensus was to begin one high speed taxi test with the intent of flying. If a problem is detected, shut it down and address the problem. If no problem is detected, continue with the first take-off.

Of course, people are different. That decision belongs entirely to the test PIC.
 
So many things look sketchy here..

- The most obvious... Unless you train/fly every other day two engines will just kill you twice as easy.

- With the RV stubby wings and stock tail - vertical stab - rudder. It's not far enough aft or large enough for comfortable single engine control. Not that it got that far... When I built twin RVs in X-Plane, they had to be bigger than stock.

- high speed taxi... please builder/pilots, do normal taxi until your comfortable. If you're not, then get someone else to test fly it.
 
Ten years ago with my SuperCub ready for flight I ran into a problem that I'm glad I was still on the ground when I discovered it. With all that is taking place on the first flight I mismanaged the fuel system. I have four position on my fuel selector. Both and OFF are opposite each other (top and bottom) with left and right on each side. The big handle moves with your hand and pointer indicates the position selected. I selected left for start up and taxied out to the run up area there I selected the right tank for run up. Before take off I turned the selector to Both. Once I was ready to go I indicated on the radio that I was ready for flight and that I would make a high speed run and that if I became airborne I would continue with the flight. The taxi went great until I started to make the turn to back taxi for take off. The engine just quit. Long story short, in the busy preparation of first flight my mind must have been loaded and I used the long handle as the indicator rather than the point and had turned off the fuel. With power lines directly ahead the out come would not have been good.
Now one can say I messed up and I sure did. If you think it cannot happen to you, I do not want to fly with you. Just saying this high speed taxi saved my bacon. Any taxi would have done the same thing as long as the duration would have used the fuel in the line. In my RV-14A , I'm glad to have an Andair fuel selector that requires lifting the knob to turn it off. Obviously my situation must have happened to others for this to be developed.
Hopping for Bobbi to have a speedy recovery.
 
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Ron B. said:
In my RV-14A , I'm glad to have an Andair fuel selector that requires lifting the knob to turn it off. Obviously my situation must have happened to others for this to be developed.
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14 CFR 23.995 (g) Fuel tank selector valves must?

(1) Require a separate and distinct action to place the selector in the ?OFF? position; and

(2) Have the tank selector positions located in such a manner that it is impossible for the selector to pass through the ?OFF? position when changing from one tank to another.


Willing to bet that's been in there for many decades...and yes, I *know* this isn't required for E-ABs, but still...
 
RV7A Flyer said:
14 CFR 23.995 (g) Fuel tank selector valves must?

(1) Require a separate and distinct action to place the selector in the ?OFF? position; and

(2) Have the tank selector positions located in such a manner that it is impossible for the selector to pass through the ?OFF? position when changing from one tank to another.
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Very true. In addition, 14 CFR 23.777(h)(1) says:

(1) For a mechanical fuel selector:

(i) The indication of the selected fuel valve position must be by means of a pointer and must provide positive identification and feel (detent, etc.) of the selected position.
(ii) The position indicator pointer must be located at the part of the handle that is the maximum dimension of the handle measured from the center of rotation.​

In other words, the longest part of the handle should be the pointer. The FAA added this rule in 1986, probably because of similar accidents. I know that most of the aircraft that I have flown would not have met this rule.
 
Thread creep is occurring......please start another thread if you wish to discuss fuel valves.

Thankful the accident was not any more serious than it was and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
 
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