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Re: Europa-List: First flight LN-SKJ

Subject: Re: Europa-List: First flight LN-SKJ
From: Graham Singleton <grahamsingleton@btinternet.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:06:38

Svein
Congratulations, I envy you the opportunity to fly all over Scandinavia. 
Say hello to Jos for me when you get to Ivalo ;-)
A "gurney flap" is the easy way to correct a heavy wing. That is around 
150mm of P section draft excluder stuck under the trailing edge of the 
right aileron (for a left wing heavy) Adjust the the length of strip to 
trim level in the cruise. It has the advantage that no one will notice 
it except you.
Graham

Sidsel & Svein Johnsen wrote:

> All,
>  
> Late this morning I took my Europa XS trigear on its first flight from 
> Kjeller airfield outside Oslo (ENKJ, known to some of the readers of 
> this forum from visits with their Europas).
>  
> I followed the first flight program recommended in Europa Owner's 
> Manual, but I must admit that I had a very strong urge to take it on a 
> really long flight!
>  
> Although I have flown the Europa at a demo flight in Lakeland, I still 
> find it an amazing aircraft to fly.  So nimble yet so stable.  I was 
> checked out on the Diamond Katana a couple of weeks ago - not even 
> close to Europa when it comes to "fun to fly". 
>  
> Left wing is a bit heavy when letting go of the stick, and so am I but 
> whether this is the reason will be checked out on subsequent flights 
> with more equal loading.  Clean stall at abt 51 kt, full flap stall at 
> abt 42 kt (to be reconfirmed later in the test program).  Left wing 
> drop in both configurations but quite undramatic all told and very 
> easy and quick to recover from the stall.
>  
> Duration 20 minutes in the air, absolutely uneventful except some 
> shimmy of the nosewheel on touchdown.  I have evidenty loosened the 
> shimmy damper nut too much to get easy steering, so this will have to 
> be tightened up a bit.
> The engine sings like it enjoys what it is doing, and the temps etc. 
> were all well within limits.
>  
> The only problem occured when opening the canopy afterwards for the 
> photographer.  I wanted a "cool" picture of myself, but that 
> well-known Europa flier grin just sat there!
>  
> So the stats, Rowland:
>  
> - Europa XS trigear
> - Kit no. A225
> - Rotax 912ULS
> - Airmaster A332 with Warp blades
> - Build time 4 years 9 months - 3300 hrs of which 300 filling and 
> sanding (should have filled less and sanded more, see next item!)
> - Empty weight, with fairings and all the options plus some, steel 
> nosewheel springs, heavy leather interior trim:  966 lbs
>    (the good thing, though, is that CG is right where it should be at 
> 60.2 in and that the Norwegian CAA has approved 1450 lbs MTOW)
>  
> A profound "thank you" goes to all on this forum for help and support 
> through the building period; to Andy (whose address I unfortunately do 
> not have), Roger and John at Europa; to Neville (who is worth his 
> weight in gold); and last but not least to my fellow builders here in 
> Norway for invaluable contributions leading up to this most fantastic day!
>  
>  
> Best regards,
> Svein
> LN-SKJ
>
>*
>
>
>*
>



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