I was elected to be the test pilot, so here we go. I take off and climb up to around 500 feet with everything looking good, then the wind picks up. As you know, Quicksilvers do not like strong gusty wind.

I get it lined up on final approch, pull the throttle back to idle and the BIG SILENCE comes. The engine shuts off. Here I am, first test flight, wind gusting and engine goes south. Wow! What a rush! Fortunately I have enough altitude to make the field, dead stick.

After landing safely and checking it out, we find the idle jet has a piece of trash in it, and it is stopped up. We use a small welding tip cleaning wire to carefully clean the jet and get the trash out of it. This will work most of the time, but be careful with the wire so you don't scratch or damage the jet. We clean it really good with carb cleaner, and away we go.

Lessons:

(1) If the engine is not running right, stay on the ground. Better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than in the air wishing you were on the ground
(2) Test fly only in very good calm conditions. You never know what's going to happen on a test flight.
(3) Always do test flights where you will have a safe place to land.
(4) Altitude and airspeed are your friends.
(5) Stay calm; don't panic; fly the plane. Panic has no place in a plane.