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Old 08-26-2005 | 10:01 AM
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RCKen
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Default RE: question on maiden flights

mrbass111,
I've seen pilots with 10 or 15 years experience have somebody else maiden flight new planes. Whether you can do the maiden flight is a personal choice you are going to have to make. The question you need to ask yourself is are you ready to recover the plane from any situation or orientation and can you adjust the trims while the holding control in the sticks at the same time. I've done the maiden flight on planes that were so out of trim that it's all I could do to just keep the plane flying with the sticks let alone adjust the trim, in those cases I've had somebody else move the trim tabs while I flew the plane. In fact that may help you in your decision, see if you can find an experienced pilot to stand beside you during the trim flight to help you out.

IHMO it's part of building a plane to trim flight it, but I know that I'm in the minority with that thinking. I know a lot of experienced builders out there have somebody else trim their plane, I know this because I do a lot of trim flights for people at our field.

Hope this helps

Ken