>> I wonder, is there anyone that ever did a take-off or landing in Europa's
demonstrator.
Yes, I have done takeoff and landing during demo flights - and flown left
seat during the same.
I very much suspect that a large proportion of the incidents were caused by
a) The original tailwheel configuration which (having experienced it under
my own feet) can be a real bitch to handle during the takeoff transition.
The XS tailwheel configuration, by comparison, is no more difficult that a
piper cub to handle - but even very experienced pilots can get into trouble
on those! Any conventional configuration aircraft is waiting to bite and
they demand constant respect on the ground, something that every pilot of
this type of aircraft cannot afford to forget. The only time you are not
flying a monowheel Europa is when the power is off!
or
b) Trike pilots converting to conventional gear and then going flying their
Europa's with very little conventional gear experience. Going from a trike
to conventional is not just a matter of having a five hour conversion. For
example, to test fly a Europa (or any conventional gear type) in NZ requires
the pilot to have performed a minimum of 50 takeoffs and landings in a
conventional equipped aircraft in the previous 90 days as well as having a
type rating on the aircraft. This applies whether you have 100 or 20000
hours experience behind you.
Tony
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