7 ms·

How scary was the test flight? where did you land?

• ryandrake 6mo ago
  I was as confident as I could be. Had multiple tech counselors and A&Ps give it a good look over beforehand. Also had an emergency plan for every 100 feet of altitude post-takeoff. Did the first couple of flight tests in the vicinity of a minor (class D) Bay Area airport and then did the rest of them (including the riskier ones) over the central valley.
  • kacesensitive 6mo ago
    did you bring a parachute?
    • ryandrake 6mo ago
      Nope. Given the canopy style of the kit (RV-7A tip-up) and a few build decisions I made (modifications to the original design), actually egressing in-flight would have been infeasible anyway.
    • jagged-chisel 6mo ago
      In most failure cases, it becomes a glider. I think if it was gonna fall apart around the pilot, it would be obvious long before they got it in the air.