Forty Hour Fly Off Question

[Walt Shipley]

I'm under the impression that during the first 40 hours of flight of an RV-12 that only one person is allowed by FAA rule to be in the cockpit. In other words, a second person who might be there to record performance data, is not allowed in the cockpit.

Am I right, or are there cases where a second person might be allowed? I don't plan on having a second person in my RV-12, during test flights, but this discussion has come up and I'd be interested in an answer.

Hoping to begin my transiton training in a couple weeks....

Walt

 

[skydiverlv]

Only 5 hours required if building ELSA. 40 hour requirement is for those building EAB.

 

[DonFromTX]

You might check the archives, this has been hashed out before. As I recall, an additional person is allowed if he is writing down statistics and helping in the fly off, by FAA rules.

 

[BobTurner]

Under the EAB rules phase one is limited to "necessary" crew. My FISDO was pretty adamant that that meant one person for an rv10.

 

[Bill_H]

Dynon has said that Skyview data logging with standard file formats exportable via the USB port is at the top of their development priority list. The lack of that was the reason why the RV14 prototype had a d180 in the panel as the second screen.

 

[Mel]

This is discussed extensively every year at our DAR seminars.
The rule is no passengers "unless that person is essential to the purpose of the flight".
The "purpose of the flight is flight testing the aircraft." There are many methods of data taking that do not require another person in the aircraft. Therefore in the type of aircraft we are building, no person other than the pilot is allowed.
Sometimes FSDO personnel have verbally allowed a passenger. This is NOT legal.
FAA personnel may not circumvent or override the interpretation of the rules by FAA headquarters.
Do what you will, but don't expect it to stand up in court.

For ELSA, paragraph (6) of the op lims states specifically ".......with the pilot as the sole occupant of the aircraft."