---From Donald Kesterton
This is an introductory message from the builders of Europa No 216
registered G-PATS for in honour of our lady builder. The group comprises
four owners, but pressures of work etc reduce this to an effective 2.5
builders. We are:-
Miss Pat Wilkinson
Nigel Surman
Geoff Chapman
Donald Kesterton
I have been a member of the PFA and EAA for circa 5 years so selecting the
Europa was a carefully considered matter. I'm still learning to fly and
none of us are very experienced pilots so I hope the Europa lives up to its
publicity of being OK for low hour pilots.
We started mid July with the work bench, then spent circa 3 weeks fitting
out the work shop, so building proper did not start until early August.
We have completed fin, rudder, and most of the tailplane. We picked up
wing and fuselage kit (including fuel tank) on 18 August and have just
received our tail wheel.
To make the most of the good weather we stopped working on the tailplane and
started the big layups on the wings. As of 21 October we are just about to
start the top surface trailing edge layup on both wings. We have a nice big
workshop which helps tremendously.
No serious problems to-date. Most difficulty is with bid changing shape and
getting the wing blocks in position to our satisfaction. We had to shim up
the inboard end of leading edge block no 2. Is some adjustment like this to
be expected?
We have some plastic square section conduit we used to hold the leading edge
plies against the spar which is now surplus to requirements. I think this
method is better than L section because with L section you can't see if you
have any air under the cloth at the spar edge.
Congrats to Peter Kember. However I am rather concerned by the potential
loss of payload, I'm heavy and Nigel is even heavier!! Is there any
possibility the Europa could be PFA approved at say 1400lbs gross?
Regards
Donald Kesterton
Milton Keynes
Bucks
Tel 01908-372434
E-Mail kestertond@logica.com
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