Permission was granted for flight testing to begin in April 1935, and Bajdak conducted his first flight in the prototype on 22 April 1935. For this initial uneventful flight, no weapons were installed and a light fuel load was used. The following day, Bajdak put the IK-1 into unplanned aerobatic manoeuvres, after which the wing fabric was observed as being slack. An official from Ikarus checked it and stated that this would resolve once the fabric varnish had completely dried. Bajdak took the aircraft for a third test flight the next day, which involved more unplanned aerobatics. When the aircraft was at , Bajdak put it into a shallow dive and pulled up abruptly at high speed, at which point the wing fabric began to tear rapidly, to the extent that it could be seen from the ground. The aircraft dropped into a spin to starboard, and Bajdak baled out safely while the IK-1 crashed into the ground.