I have been scanning the internet looking for ways to properly evaluate some flight data I've gathered. I think I found the solution and thought I'd share it.
The question is "How do I accurately test for performance improvements"? Ken Paser did a lot of testing as documented in his book "Speed With Economy" but I believe I have found a better way. There are a couple of papers out there using GPS to determine true airspeed. There are a few different methods, but I like the ones published by the National Test Pilot's School. (Besides, Test Pilot's School sounds cool).
The methods are designed to determine true airspeed, but I would think it would be well suited to determining top true airspeed. The idea is, you go so some convenient altitude - say 5,500 feet, and do a full out performance run in either three or four different directions. You plug your values into the spreadsheet and voila! You have your accurate performance with the wind factor removed. The only caveat is that you should have the same indicated airspeed throughout the test. If your throttle is shoved all the way forward and locked down, this should be the case.
By using this simple test method, one could make performance enhancements and then have an accurate method of checking if they really worked. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Here is the link, read all three articles at the Test Pilot's web site.
I have used it a number of times and think it gives me the best idea if my mods are really helping anything.
