When we took off in the rental Cessna 140, neither of us had any idea that before the flight was over, I would inadvertently become a “test pilot.” A test pilot is the first person to fly an airplane design that has never been flown by anyone else. Change the shape of any flight surface and it is a new, untested design the first time it is flown.
My flight as a “test pilot” began 30 minutes into a training flight. My student was a private pilot who had scheduled me to help him become more comfortable and competent in a Cessna 140, the type airplane he planned to purchase. After he had demonstrated a series of stalls, slow flight and steep turns, I suggested we return to the airport and work on his takeoffs and landings. He had just given the flight controls to me, requesting that I make a steep right turn so he could take a photo of the snow-covered land below. About 10 seconds into the turn, we felt and heard a loud thump that prompted me to gently roll back to a wings level position.
