Re: First Flight Challenges
In the old days the test pilots would strap themselves in, light the fires and take the aircraft up for a quick circuit
The short-lived ones did. "Kick the tyres and light the fires" was one motto often used, and it is explicitly called out by Winkle Brown as a poor attitude. He attributed most of his success as a TP to *not* subscribing to that attitude...
One wonders what the remainder of the flight test campaign is really for these days.
There are three main tasks, AIUI:
- Testing new designs to ensure they are fit for real operation
- Testing rebuilt aircraft to ensure they have been put back together properly
- Flying accident profiles to determine what happened
I have friends who do or have done all of these :-)
Vic.