Hail and well met mighty Europa builders/fliers/dreamers.
My name is Peter Allen (married, 35, no kids) and this is my short note
of introduction. I have just returned to Melbourne, Australia after
living and working for the past 7 years in London. I am a humble
student pilot and classify myself in the following categories;
4. You have the Europa information pack, and are seriously considering a
purchase.
5. You would dearly love to build a Europa if you can find the
time/space/money.
6. You will begin as soon as you can convince your spouse it is a good
idea
all depending on my mood (or my wife's).
During my time in London (the centre of the universe, but don't tell the
Poms) I became increasingly interested in all forms of aviation and
along the way I have been quite smitten with the Europa and was lucky
enough to fly G-KITS with Pete Clark on the Thursday before his death
(and just before the Rotax was stolen for that matter). As an aside the
brief 20-30 minutes I spent in that aircraft under the "tuition" of a
master pilot may have changed my life, but I digress.
I'm one of these useless accountants and my plane making skills are
zero, but people tell me this can actually be an advantage. In a effort
to expand my knowledge and skills I have joined the SAAA here (Aussie
PFA equivalent) and have met a number of people in a similar position as
myself, with similar reservations;
Can I, Can't I?
How much will it really cost me?
All this leads me to the serious questions.
On behalf of a small group, can anyone tell me what the expected
depreciation will be on the Europa?
In other words, if, in our own minds, we can justify the opportunity
cost of the capital outlay, (say, GBP40,000 all up) what will it be
worth in 5 or 10 years! I have my own views on various influencing
factors;
Composite V's Metal or Wood
State of the art in its class V's An older design (say the Pulsar)
but I would appreciate your views.
The next question is, can a very low airtime pilot fly the wee beast?
Lets face it, the Europa is an advanced, performance aircraft. I've
been lucky enough to have flown one, but a colleague of mine (another
student pilot) is concerned that he will never be able to master
anything more challenging than a C152. As a result he is considering
building a Jabiru as he perceives it to be easy to fly.
This has ended up being a very long, first up, E-mail but I would be
very appreciative if you could spare 10 minutes of so to give me (and my
colleagues) your thoughts.
Thanks
Peter Allen
Bored Chartered Accountant
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