Testing Your Homebuilt Like a Pro!
Experimenter - 6/97
by Ben Owen
Most of us who fly believe that we are one of the best pilots we know. It is quite common among pilots to have a great deal of self-confidence (or we wouldn’t be flying in the first place). Optimists can accomplish a great deal, but in test flying, it is best to temper your enthusiasm with caution.
When a person has not flown for some period of time, their flying skills degrade. Usually a person building an aircraft has very little time or finances to also continue flying and keeping as current as he/she might wish. There is also frequently a very strong "I built it, I am going to fly it" attitude when we think of all the work that we have invested in our aircraft.
It is precisely out of consideration of "all that work you have invested" that leads us to recommend you take a very strong look at your ability to test fly your creation. It may be better to find someone who is a more current and active flyer to test the airplane that you have spent thousands of hours and a great amount of money building. It might be the best investment you make! For example, in a catastrophic situation, would your first thoughts be to save the aircraft . . . and all that money you’ve spent . . . or yourself? How many precious seconds would you spend weighing your options before you make the best decision?
Before flying your aircraft, we suggest that you contact an EAA Flight Advisor. An EAA Flight Advisor is a volunteer who can go over your logbook with you, discuss the flying characteristics of the airplane, and help you arrive at a sound decision as to whether or not you should test fly the airplane yourself or if someone more experienced should test fly it for you. A Flight Advisor does not "approve" your flying the aircraft and is not a test pilot; he or she just provides you with some impartial guidance.
EAA’s Aviation Information Services and Government Programs offices have information on test flying. FAA has prepared an excellent Advisory Circular (AC 90-89, Amateur-Built Aircraft Test Flying Handbook) that will help those who are test flying or supervising the testing phase of a homebuilt aircraft. It is available from EAA’s Information Services office (920/426-4821) at no charge. Two instructional videos are also available from EAA’s Order Department (1-800-843-3612): First Flights in Your Homebuilt Aircraft details what you can expect on your first flight while First Flights in Your Ultralight/Light Plane focuses on flying a lighter recreational aircraft and their different handling characteristics.
In picking a test pilot to do your testing flying, you want to ask the same questions of the test pilot as the Flight Advisor would ask of you. A person who has a great deal of time in military or transport aircraft and very limited time in sport aircraft would not necessarily make the best test pilot for a new sport plane. You are looking for an individual with a great deal of varied experience in a multitude of different types of aircraft and who has recent experience in handling aircraft of the same type, weight and performance that you have built. You want a person with experience in taildragger flying for test flying in a taildragger; high performance time for test flying a high performance aircraft such as Glasair or Lancair; seaplane time for a seaplane; and ultralight or light plane time for flying the lighter aircraft.
The test pilot has some responsibilities to you to do the very best job. You, as the owner, also have some responsibilities to the test pilot.
Some insurance firms will cover your aircraft for the first ten takeoffs and landing or first ten hours if you work with an EAA Flight Advisor, but some firms will not otherwise cover this period.
Working with a Flight Advisor is best done with an open attitude, not one of just covering yourself for insurance during that period. Any insurance company will want to know the qualifications of your proposed test pilot and whether or not they have worked with a Flight Advisor, as any pilots who fly the aircraft will have to be approved by the insurance company.
The test pilot who is flying your aircraft should be covered by insurance for any damage done to the aircraft and also any personal injury. Some firms will provide life insurance and AD&D insurance for the initial test flying of an experimental amateur-built aircraft. You may contact EAA’s Insurance Department at 920/426-4822 for the names of these companies. A prudent owner might want to purchase this insurance on his pilot, and a prudent test pilot would want this type of insurance as well.
There have been cases where people have test flown aircraft for others, caused damage to the aircraft and have been held responsible by the owner of the aircraft for the damage. In some cases the owner of an aircraft has been held responsible for the injury or death of a test pilot of an aircraft they owned and built. It is best to cover all events in advance and not to take a casual attitude regarding either the owner’s or test pilot’s responsibilities.
Since the startup of the EAA Flight Advisor program, the number of serious accidents happening on first and second flights has been dramatically reduced. For this reason, every builder/owner of an experimental aircraft, or new owner of an experimental aircraft, really needs to take a hard look at his/her personal capacity to fly the airplane . . and the responsibilities to and from anyone else who test flies it.
For more information about licensing a homebuilt in the experimental amateur-built category, contact EAA’s Aviation Information Services Office at 920/426-4821. For more information about EAA’s Flight Advisor Program, contact EAA Safety Programs Office at 920/426-6864.
