In a message dated 28/11/97 05:57:42, you write:
<< I would appreciate some feedback from you eagles among us who are
towing your pride and joy. What do you see as the pro's and cons >>
Well this is from an old eagle but here goes....
I have towed my Europa since it flew in May and not paid a penny in
hangarage. ( I am a member of a club which charges members no landing fees).
I do sometimes tow it elsewhere and pay one, for two reasons. There is a
nearer airfield (30min drive against 50 min) and the nearer one can be chosen
if it's "along track", i.e. I am saving flight time and fuel, not that either
of these is a major consideration in a Europa. This freedom is quite an
advantage.
Extra advantages are security, no hangar damage, and the ability to work on
the machine, add gadgets etc. which you will probably want to do a lot in its
first year - or a least work up the polish and drool over it etc. I
couldn't really imagine life without it now !
The downside it that is that you have to add the towing time both ways plus
the rigging derigging time to each outing. Remember that unless you are able
to tow straight out of the garage ( and reverse in ?) with the wings already
on, you will have to add ground handling time (difficult if your driveway has
a slope !) and manhandling of wings. This can be a big overhead for short
flights. You can of course reduce it as a proportion by parking (outside at
either end) at the weekends or longer.
I would NOT be towing over anything but top class roads. At first I was
regularly repairing wing scuffing marks where the supports contact the flying
surfaces, and had to make significant changes to the support and clamping
arrangements of the standard trailer to reduce this, and also to enable
single-handed rigging. See current issue of Europa club magazine.
(Incidentally the picture of the modified spar support shown there is
printed rotated 90 deg. !) It turns out that unskilled helpers actually slow
down the rigging process now.
So the decision very much depends on your local circumstances and the type of
the flying you mostly do, and the time you have available to do it . For me
so far the Europa has multiplied my hours per year by over 10 with no
increase in cost and I expect that ratio to increase !
Graham C G-EMIN
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