I forwarded comments on the tri-gear review to Ed Kolano, and this is his
response:
Thanks for sending along the comment from the Europa builders' group.
Interesting. The original monowheel review flight was one of my first
for the magazine, although the piece ran after later-flown reviews.
Experience is a wonderful school. I stand behind what I said about the
monowheel, but I've since learned that my approach to writing reviews has
evolved to better suit the EAA audience (I think).
I can't comment on his latest piece - Sport Aviation has yet to arrive - but
with
regard
to his monowheel piece, I think that it was right on the money, certainly when
it came
to his comments on the handling in the air. It was something I wish I'd
written...
The
problem us scribblers always face is a very limited time in the aircraft, with
a
substantial portion of it sometimes devoted to the photographer, so exploring
the
vagaries of runway behaviour, for instance, often isn't possible: I've flown 5
Europas
(4 monowheels) in the course of working for Flyer, and never really had a
problem
with
landing or taking off, but then if the conditions were dodgy, Andy/Ivan/or Pete
Clarke
would usually do them - and you can't really argue.... Contrary to what some
people
might think, doing flight tests isn't a lot of fun - although if you are lucky,
you
might get a few minutes of unaduterated pleasure - aerobatting the Berkut in a
broken
cloud layer, or sitting in on a dogfight between Pete Clake and Ivan to name the
most
memorable.
Miles
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