Originally Posted by
Rod1
The LAA system is very good from that point of view. Every year the aircraft is test flown to a set schedule, normally by the owner, and the numbers and characteristics recorded. Stalls, testing to VNE, ROC etc.
Rod1
And the BMAA system, and the CAA Permit to Fly system - it's only EASA CofA aeroplanes that have gone away from the annual documented air test. This is a controversial topic in the airworthiness and flight test worlds: I'll freely admit that I sit firmly on the side of annual air tests, which I think are very good value for money if done properly by somebody with sufficient integrity and training in the task.
There is in my opinion a weakness in the LAA system in that it routinely allows owners, without special training, or oversight to do these air tests. I've certainly flown one or two of their aeroplanes where something went wrong and there were problems that most certainly should have been corrected before signing off a recent air test. BMAA and CAA work slightly differently.
I believe that these EASA permit aeroplanes are being dumped on CAA to manage, so they're treating them the same as CAA Permit aeroplanes and mandating the annual air test. That knowledge may well be where this CAA dictat has come from.
G