Simon - welcome to the Europa fraternity!
May I suggest there is probably no better introduction to the Europa than to
take
up the offer of one or more of our German friends and meet to see a Europa
in your locale (ideally both Mono and Tri-gear), and witness for yourself the
enthusiasm I'm sure they will have for this great aircraft.
As others have also said, the Europa Club is excellent - both as a source of
information
and of inspiration.
Like many, I also searched for years comparing the best set of compromises on
landing/cruise
speeds, payload, cost of ownership, durability, performance etc
and for me it became a clear choice between the Europa and one of the Vans
aircraft.
But before you embark on selecting any home-built, may I also suggest it's worth
asking yourself: 'which do i enjoy most - creating/building or solely flying?'.
850 hours build from scratch seems very ambitious - more likely double or
triple that for a factory crated kit. The number of bells and whistles one
prefers
can add significantly to both cost and weight.
>From experience (twice now), buying a second-hand part-built Europa is a
>significantly
faster route to flying one - providing someone who knows the aircraft
can inspect and/or vouch for both its build quality and paperwork integrity.
They come up occasionally and there are plenty of part-built or even purchased
but 'little-worked-on' kits out there - and their owners are often not opposed
to receiving an offer to buy them. It's a good way to minimise the capital
cost and instead spend that money on finishing and configuration to your taste.
My experience is that the finish/refurbish route can take 2-3 years part-time
and maybe as little as a year if you are able to spend most of your time on
it. PS: ask your wife what she thinks . . .
My MTOW is 1370lb/621kg (its a mono but i've owned both types). Its empty
weight
is 825lbs/375kg. Incorporating the extended baggage bay MOD takes the baggage
capability to 80lbs/36kg. My Tri-gear was rather heavily built and was 910lbs
empty which limited the payload to e.g. a single pair of shoes. I refurbished
the Tri-Gear from salvage and it eventually cost me c45k by the time it
got its permit back. The Mono was already structurally complete when i bought
it (but un-flown) and that has cost me c40k.
Best wishes in your search
Clive Sutton, G-YETI (UK)
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