Phase I - Flight Testing

On April 12th I completed my 40 hours of Phase I flight testing, allowing me now to operate the plane in a normal manner consistent with a traditionally certified airplane. I was a bit naive with this stage of building thinking I would just start the plane up and go fly for 40 hours.  This wasn't the case and it really was a bit of a struggle, causing me to shift paint to the right by about a month.

I framed my test flights around the EAA Flight Test Manual which has a layout of 18 individual flight plans. This resource was worth the nominal cost and helps first time test pilots such as myself get a bit more comfortable with the process and have a structured approach.  In the end it took me 20 flights to accomplish all the testing outlined in the manual as well as the testing specific to my build and system setup.

On top of the flying I had substantial maintenance activities to attend to. These ranged from system configurations, part replacement to additional fiberglass work. The idea of just jump in and fly with no issues wasn't the case with my build. Working through the bugs and squawks seems to have taken as much time on the ground as I spent flying the plane.  Even today I have a handful of items I'll continue to work through before paint.  None of these are airworthy items, just things I want to deal with at some point.  I guess this is why people say that "the building is never done".