BINGO.... not sure why we hear so much about dead sticks and crashes on new engines... on engines that are breaking in.. I NEVER get low or very far from the field when I invert, knife, or go from low throttle to WOT on the first few flights ... just in case.. saved at least two planes that way... like you said 2-3 mistakes high works.

I saw a guy fly a brand new Extra with a new (run once on ground that day) DA-100.. it was running rough to begin with.. but he knew everything so I just shut my mouth. He took off at full throttle and inverted his plane literally the second it was 10' off the ground.. (apparently to show off) it went into an immediate dead stick.. plane went down before it cleared the end of the runway.. total loss. Don't get it.

I'll do a ground run to ballpark the needles - then take off at 1/3 throttle, do a nice easy circular climbout while trimming for level flight on the passes parallel to the runway... once up about 200' + I'll cut back to idle and check landing speeds, then roll it over and start playing with transitions.. if it dies there is more than enough air to get home safely. Usually about 2-3 flights and I have everything dialed in perfectly.

DP