Europa (NOT the continent, or the EU, but...) ?
Thread Starter
Europa (NOT the continent, or the EU, but...) ?
Okay, here goes…
Has anybody here experience with building (and flying, and keeping flyable) a Europa ? http://www.europa-aircraft.co.uk Especially the motorglider version? How much time does it realistically take to get one airborne? And how much money?
In a nutshell: I’m trying to talk my soaring club into building one. The club has built a number of sailplanes in the past (since 1922), but is on the verge of losing this ability. In fact I think it has lost the ability of designing and building an aircraft from scratch. And so I came up with the (admittedly half-baked) idea of building one of these modern “Glue part 19 to part 25” homebuild kits… Well, you get the idea…
(Rest assured, I’m well aware of number if issues, like needing full support from the whole club (or at least a major part of it), ignoring the nay-sayers, ---- and the Europa’s prop strike issue…)
And while we’re at it… Just in case: Does anybody know a serious alternative to the Europe? On the wish list: Must be composite, reasonable easy to build, have some pilot appeal, kit should be easily available, reasonably priced, etc etc.
[edited to improve the Europa -- or at least the url.]
Has anybody here experience with building (and flying, and keeping flyable) a Europa ? http://www.europa-aircraft.co.uk Especially the motorglider version? How much time does it realistically take to get one airborne? And how much money?
In a nutshell: I’m trying to talk my soaring club into building one. The club has built a number of sailplanes in the past (since 1922), but is on the verge of losing this ability. In fact I think it has lost the ability of designing and building an aircraft from scratch. And so I came up with the (admittedly half-baked) idea of building one of these modern “Glue part 19 to part 25” homebuild kits… Well, you get the idea…
(Rest assured, I’m well aware of number if issues, like needing full support from the whole club (or at least a major part of it), ignoring the nay-sayers, ---- and the Europa’s prop strike issue…)
And while we’re at it… Just in case: Does anybody know a serious alternative to the Europe? On the wish list: Must be composite, reasonable easy to build, have some pilot appeal, kit should be easily available, reasonably priced, etc etc.
[edited to improve the Europa -- or at least the url.]
Last edited by flugholm; 8th May 2005 at 15:12.
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flugholm asked
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And while we’re at it… Just in case: Does anybody know a serious alternative to the Europe? On the wish list: Must be composite, reasonable easy to build, have some pilot appeal, kit should be easily available, reasonably priced, etc etc.
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One possibility might be the Whisper from www.whisperaircraft.com
I know nothing about it except what is on the web site
g45
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And while we’re at it… Just in case: Does anybody know a serious alternative to the Europe? On the wish list: Must be composite, reasonable easy to build, have some pilot appeal, kit should be easily available, reasonably priced, etc etc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One possibility might be the Whisper from www.whisperaircraft.com
I know nothing about it except what is on the web site
g45
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I've decided I'm going to build a Ban-Bi (or faster equivalent) with a few interesting (to be approved) mods. The Europa seems pretty good but the times they are a movin'... chances are that even the Ban-Bi'll be left behind soon enough!!
Does anybody know if the aerodynamics of a 450kg 100hp VLA would permit 180KTAS, level flight if refined to near-perfection? There's an interesting non type specific mod that seems to signiificantly reduce vortex drag (I don't understand the maths, maybe Genghis will know), which should raise the cruise the cruise speed by 5 kts or so.
Does anybody know if the aerodynamics of a 450kg 100hp VLA would permit 180KTAS, level flight if refined to near-perfection? There's an interesting non type specific mod that seems to signiificantly reduce vortex drag (I don't understand the maths, maybe Genghis will know), which should raise the cruise the cruise speed by 5 kts or so.
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Welcome to the MCR01 team. I am 90% of the way through building the Club version. I think the fastest of the VLA’s is doing about 160k, so 180 is a big step. I will be happy with 130k, good stol and 490kg.
There is a Motor Glider version, but it is not PFA approved.
Rod1
There is a Motor Glider version, but it is not PFA approved.
Rod1
