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United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

AC 90-89C - Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook

Document Information

Number
90-89C
Title
Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook
Status
Active
Date issued
2023-02-14
Office of Primary Responsibility
AFS-300
Description

This AC provides suggestions and safety-related recommendations primarily to assist amateur-built aircraft and ultralight vehicle builders in developing individualized flight test plans. It also provides guidance for Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft (ELSA) flight testing after modifications to the aircraft. It provides recommendations and suggestions you can combine with other sources on test flying, such as the aircraft plan/kit manufacturer’s flight testing instructions and other flight testing data. This will help you develop a detailed flight test plan, tailored for your aircraft or ultralight vehicle and resources. The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way, and the document is intended only to provide information to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.

Content
Cancels
Cancels
Number Title Date
90-89B Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook

This advisory circular (AC) provides suggestions and safety related recommendations primarily to assist amateur and ultralight builders in developing individualized aircraft flight-test plans. It also provides guidance for experimental light sport aircraft flight testing after modifications to the aircraft. It provides recommendations and suggestions you can combine with other sources on test flying, such as the aircraft plan/kit manufacturer’s flight testing instructions and other flight testing data. This will help you develop a detailed flight-test plan, tailored for your aircraft and resources.

This AC attempts to make you aware that test flying an aircraft is a critical undertaking, which you should approach with thorough planning, skill, and common sense. The flight-test plan is the heart of all professional flight testing. The plan should account for every hour spent in the flight-test phase and you should adhere to it with the same respect for the unknown that all successful test pilots share. The time allotted for each phase of a personalized flight-test plan may vary, and each phase may have more events or checks than suggested in this AC, but your goals, should be the same. You should add flight-test operational and performance data to the aircraft’s flight manual so you can reference the data prior to each flight.

 2015-04-27