Message text written by "Garry Stout"
>Or................you could build a tri gear Europa and be done with all
of
that squirrely handling stuff.
<
Trigears also have their limitations. They are less capable on grass strips
particularly if the ground is soft or uneven. This may not be such a
problem in the USA but here in the UK there are many strips which it would
be unwise to take a trigear into but are used by monowheel Europas
regularly. Remember that the Europa came about when Ivan Shaw found that
operating Varieaze/Longeaze aircraft in Europe and in UK in particular was
very restricting due to the lack of suitable fields. The Europa has proved
to be a good enough aircraft to compete in the trigear marketplace but lets
not forget that its design was based around the idea of combining strip
performance with clean efficient cruise capability. Provided the
builder/owner accepts that it is not a beginner's aircraft it is still
probably the best aircraft for this purpose nearly a decade after the
concept was thought of.
Nigel Charles
|