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Engine break in again

OK, so before we get hundreds of guys thinking that you HAVE to do full-power accelerations down the runway before first flight to break in your pads….you don’t. I’m glad this worked for you, but I find that the brake pads will do just fine with a couple of accelerations to 20 mph and some stops on the taxiway. Or frankly, nothing at all - they’ll break in on your first landing.

High Speed taxi testing (under whatever guise) has proven time and time again to be a great way to create a crisis that folks don’t need.

Paul

Spoken very wisely! Only took 7 seconds to liftoff on my first flight.
 
Brakes

IronFlight - that's what I thought, I have 6,000 feet of runway I can break them in on the first few landings.
 
OK, so before we get hundreds of guys thinking that you HAVE to do full-power accelerations down the runway before first flight to break in your pads….you don’t. I’m glad this worked for you, but I find that the brake pads will do just fine with a couple of accelerations to 20 mph and some stops on the taxiway. Or frankly, nothing at all - they’ll break in on your first landing.

Paul, just to be clear, I'm not planning on doing a full power taxi test down a runway. My plan is to chock the plane and strongly tie it down facing the wind, and just verify the engine can sustain full power. A few 30-60 second runs is probably enough to give me confidence it will do the same thing when it enters flight. I guess limiting the duration of the runs is all I can do to keep CHTs down and help prevent cylinder glazing.
 
Paul, just to be clear, I'm not planning on doing a full power taxi test down a runway. My plan is to chock the plane and strongly tie it down facing the wind, and just verify the engine can sustain full power. A few 30-60 second runs is probably enough to give me confidence it will do the same thing when it enters flight. I guess limiting the duration of the runs is all I can do to keep CHTs down and help prevent cylinder glazing.

Hi Ryan, I wouldn't rely on the chocks, but both chocks and tying it down should be good. One thing on that first flight that I experienced, my prop went over 2700 RPM, even though I thought it was set right based on my ground runs. Wrong! I've subsequently found out (duh!) it's almost impossible to set the upper limit on the prop controller on the ground. Be ready for that, and best of luck!
 
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