What you are saying Jim is that there is a hard earned reason for the saying "Baby steps".I know you was funnin'... but for those that don't know, gear is almost always left down on a maiden flight. Two reasons. They'll have strain gauges hooked up to measure airloads and such just to verify design data. You can swing the gear successfully all you want in the hanger, it's a whole different animal doin' it with 150kts of air blasting on it..... that and it's damned embarrassing to do a gear up landing on the maiden flight.
