I have a lot of respect for most Dan's opinions, but that quote from Futaba has not been updated since most of the hobby went with 2.4ghz radios, therefore I don't place a lot of weight in it at all. It is advice generally completely ignored by many or even most flying today. It's now old school thinking. It's nice to know, and advice still followed religiously by some, but not generally necessary or even observed by the majority of flyers today. I do however, advise a lot of caution regarding range and ground checks. Make those final checks thorough ones. Just as an example, I have a 10cc gas engine running in a .45 size Extra. The receiver, battery, ignition module, throttle servo and opti switch (all the exact same components I would be running if it were a 30cc plane) are all mounted and functioning as designed in an area the size of my fist. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Because I've done that doesn't make it right. The point is it works. Oh, and it's all running on one A123 battery.

Regarding break in and test stands, I'm from the mount it and fly it school as well - but that may be because I'm pretty familiar with the engines. If I were getting ready to run/get to know my first? I see no harm in the test stand while familiarizing/getting to know your engine. I like the idea presented earlier, and also believe there's some merit in getting some confidence in it like that to help with installation issues as well.

Seeking perfection in your needle settings though, is pretty much a waste of time. It's fair to assume they're going to change when the engine is airborne. Many (MANY!) wonder how in the world that engine just quit on the maiden when it was running perfectly on the ground. I'm here to tell you it was out of adjustment. Get used to that idea, and be ready for it when/if that happens! Keeping the plane within gliding distance of the runway on those first few flights is part of a good plan...