Based on the characteristics and process of civil aircraft flight test, this paper discusses the scope and nature of flight test configuration management. The management of test flight is essentially development configuration management which is controlled by manufacturer. From the perspective of airworthiness, the characteristics of civil aircraft flight test configuration to be in place were studied and its relationship with the flight test plan. And the flight test configuration evaluation report preparation method was given. Finally, the flow of flight test configuration control is introduced, and the focus of attention control is put forward based on the experience of flight test configuration management, which has certain reference to the followup civil aircraft flight test.