I have been involved extensively in these redelivery test flights over the last number of years and I seriously question with modern aircraft how useful they actually are. Most aircraft coming out of routine base maintenance do not have any test flights and when they do these test flights do not involve testing the flight recovery envelope, instead they have a normal flight profile which pretty much covers everything.
Why do we have to check 'last chance' systems on redeliveries which can adequately be checked on the ground given the proper training and tooling as part of more extensive ground checks after the maintenance check and/or painting?
I believe the ground/flight test schedule should be modified to ensure that all of the critical systems are checked on the ground after the maintenance/redelivery check/painting rather than in the air. The ground test schedule can be modified to ensure that these checks are included.
The majority of pilots that I have flown with on these flights had a lot of flying experience but no significant training in maintenance test flights or redelivery test flights.
Brgds SB03