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Taxi before airworthiness inspection?

I don't know your reason for the need to taxi but for a highly evolved kit plane
there is little to be gained by taxiing around.
A lot can be ruined by needlessly running up the engine "taxiing" such as engine overheating and glazing your cylinder walls for never ending high oil consumption.
It looks like your question has already been answered.
 
Definitely wouldnt want to overdue it as it is hard on the engine, but it sure is a ton of fun to taxi your plane for the first time! Give your grinning muscles a bit of a warm up for the first flight :)
 
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N427EF said:
I don't know your reason for the need to taxi but for a highly evolved kit plane
there is little to be gained by taxiing around.
A lot can be ruined by needlessly running up the engine "taxiing" such as engine overheating and glazing your cylinder walls for never ending high oil consumption.
It looks like your question has already been answered.
Click to expand...

I agree. Just got out of my phase I, and the only taxiing I did was 1 time to the run up area to do a full runup test & calibrate the ADHR, then the first flight. Breaks were tested during the runup.
 
I did one runup to test the governor, one moderate speed taxi to break in the brake pads. Then de-cowl and look for leaks, etc.
 
One reason for doing it, at least in my case, is I have owned a number of planes with different steering on the ground, but this is the first for me with steering by the brakes. I will need to get used to that.
 
I put a used engine in my plane so it was already broken in.

The FSDO inspector took a while to get out there so I had a few weeks of waiting. Taxiing on the ground and going down the runway while lifting the nosewheel really got me comfortable with controlling it on the ground. By the time the first flight came, the ground ops were known and familiar.
 
ArVeeNiner said:
The FSDO inspector took a while to get out there so I had a few weeks of waiting. Taxiing on the ground and going down the runway while lifting the nosewheel really got me comfortable with controlling it on the ground. By the time the first flight came, the ground ops were known and familiar.
Click to expand...

+1 for me too. Gave a good opportunity (speed) to really break in the brakes too.
 
FWIW - My DAR required that we taxi the aircraft as part of his evaluation prior to him issuing the Air Worthiness Certificate. I also had to taxi to the compass rose for compass calibration.

Bill
 
krw5927 said:
Yep. Make sure your insurance policy is updated to "in motion" before taxiing.
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I know of an airplane (not RV) that had its brakes fail during taxi before its Airworthiness inspection. There was NO Insurance so the pilot had to pay for the damage to the car and glider he hit. There was also damage to the airplane to fix.

Make sure you have insurance BEFORE you start your engine or move under its own power.
 
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