I spoke to Graham Singleton this morning as I was very concerned that
the accident I had recently in G-BWON had been incorrectly reported on
the E-Mail. To put it in simple terms it appeared to me that a lot of
you out there are getting your knickers in a twist about flying the
Europa!!
NARRATIVE
G-BWON is a Rotax 912 powered Europa with an Arplast prop, modified
tailwheel and flies beautifully. I am currently looking after the
aircraft for George Birks in order to sell it.
On 5 Feb 99, at 1115hrs, I taxied out from Hangar D2 at Kemble for a 30
min test flight to be followed by a refuel with AVGAS prior to a
demonstration flight the following day.
Prior to flight I went to the Control Tower to check the weather,
restrictions, Royal Flights (significant at Kemble) and NOTAMs. The
Lyneham TAF for that period was w/v 3000 20kt gusting 30 with good viz
and cloud base. The weather at Kemble was a little more benign than
Lyneham with a w/v of about 2900 15kt gusting 20. The Lyneham actual
for the period shows a w/v of 3000 18kt gusting 29. However, I know
that Lyneham is more exposed than Kemble and I also checked the
conditions with the Kemble resident microlight CFI who had just been
flying the AX3. His comments were that it was bumpy but acceptable for
flying but probably not good enough for training.
When I called for taxi I was given Rwy 27 by the controller. Knowing
that the wind was actually from the NW I elected for Rwy 31. I checked
the brakes as normal and taxied out in good spirit, happy to be flying
on my own in good weather in a very nice aircraft.
For those of you that don't know Kemble there are large areas of tarmac
and in order to taxi to Rwy 31 I had to taxi across a very large pan
with a downhill slope and then cross Rwy 27. I had just vacated Rwy 27
when I realised that the combination of tailwind and downhill slope had
increased my speed such that I needed to slow down; this was despite
being at idle power.
I had the stick at this stage in the far left corner as the wind was
---From 4 o-clock. In order to slow down I applied the brake very gently.
The aircraft immediately swung violently to the right and tipped on its
nose and came to a grinding halt. This all took place within about 1
second at the most.
Well what do you make of all that!!
Please allow me to make a few comments. I now have over 350 hrs flying
all types of Europas including Subaru powered, tricycle undercarriage,
variable pitch prop, separated flaps and every type of quirky mod you
can think of. I have instructed about 50 people in the peculiarities of
flying the Europa. I was perfectly content to fly G-BWON in the
conditions that pertained at the time.
My assessment is that the combination of taxiing on tarmac, the tailwind
and the downslope combined to put me in a position that the only way to
reduce speed was to shut down the engine and turn onto the grass verge.
I might add that this assessment is as the result of hindsight. I did
what I think we would all do and applied the brake. As soon as the
brake was applied weight was reduced on the tailwheel. The tailwind
then lifted the tail off the ground and directional control was lost.
The aircraft weather cocked and tipped on its nose because the brake was
applied.
The lessons to be learned I believe are as follows:
a. In strong winds taxi on the grass.
b. If you get into a situation taxiing too fast with a tailwind
be prepared to shut down the engine.
c. If all above fails, turn off the taxiway onto the rough.
A point that is interesting to ponder is that the new tailwheel mod
makes the aircraft more prone to this problem in my opinion.
These are the facts. If anyone has any queries then please contact me.
The Europa still is one of the most fantastic aircraft I have flown. It
is not a Cessna 150; it is more like a well bred racehorse. The
satisfaction of flying one well is immense but I do stress the need to
get some proper training.
Martin Stoner
I spoke to Graham Singleton this morning as I was very concerned that the
accident I had recently in G-BWON had been incorrectly reported on the
E-Mail. To put it in simple terms it appeared to me that a lot of
you out there are getting your knickers in a twist about flying the Europa!!
NARRATIVE
G-BWON is a Rotax 912 powered Europa with an Arplast prop, modified
tailwheel and flies beautifully. I am currently looking
after the aircraft for George Birks in order to sell it.
On 5 Feb 99, at 1115hrs, I taxied out from Hangar D2 at Kemble for a
30 min test flight to be followed by a refuel with AVGAS prior to a
demonstration
flight the following day.
Prior to flight I went to the Control Tower to check the weather, restrictions,
Royal Flights (significant at Kemble) and NOTAMs. The Lyneham TAF
for that period was w/v 300<SUP>0 </SUP>20kt gusting 30 with good viz and
cloud base. The weather at Kemble was a little more benign than Lyneham
with a w/v of about 290<SUP>0</SUP> 15kt gusting 20. The Lyneham
actual for the period shows a w/v of 300<SUP>0</SUP> 18kt gusting 29.
However, I know that Lyneham is more exposed than Kemble and I also checked
the conditions with the Kemble resident microlight CFI who had just been
flying the AX3. His comments were that it was bumpy but acceptable
for flying but probably not good enough for training.
When I called for taxi I was given Rwy 27 by the controller. Knowing
that the wind was actually from the NW I elected for Rwy 31. I checked
the brakes as normal and taxied out in good spirit, happy to be flying
on my own in good weather in a very nice aircraft.
For those of you that don't know Kemble there are large areas of tarmac
and in order to taxi to Rwy 31 I had to taxi across a very large pan with
a downhill slope and then cross Rwy 27. I had just vacated Rwy 27
when I realised that the combination of tailwind and downhill slope had
increased my speed such that I needed to slow down; this was despite
being at idle power.
I had the stick at this stage in the far left corner as the wind was
---From 4 o-clock. In order to slow down I applied the brake very gently.
The aircraft immediately swung violently to the right and tipped on its
nose and came to a grinding halt. This all took place within about
1 second at the most.
Well what do you make of all that!!
Please allow me to make a few comments. I now have over 350 hrs
flying all types of Europas including Subaru powered, tricycle undercarriage,
variable pitch prop, separated flaps and every type of quirky mod you can
think of. I have instructed about 50 people in the peculiarities
of flying the Europa. I was perfectly content to fly G-BWON in the
conditions that pertained at the time.
My assessment is that the combination of taxiing on tarmac, the tailwind
and the downslope combined to put me in a position that the only way to
reduce speed was to shut down the engine and turn onto the grass verge.
I might add that this assessment is as the result of hindsight. I
did what I think we would all do and applied the brake. As soon as
the brake was applied weight was reduced on the tailwheel. The tailwind
then lifted the tail off the ground and directional control was lost.
The aircraft weather cocked and tipped on its nose because the brake was
applied.
The lessons to be learned I believe are as follows:
a. In strong winds taxi on the
grass.
b. If you get into a situation
taxiing too fast with a tailwind be prepared to shut down the engine.
c. If all above fails, turn off
the taxiway onto the rough.
A point that is interesting to ponder is that the new tailwheel mod
makes the aircraft more prone to this problem in my opinion.
These are the facts. If anyone has any queries then please contact
me. The Europa still is one of the most fantastic aircraft I have
flown. It is not a Cessna 150; it is more like a well bred racehorse.
The satisfaction of flying one well is immense but I do stress the need
to get some proper training.
Martin Stoner
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