Hello all,
I am rapidly approaching completion of my airplane -- the long wing version.
My official list of action items is down to 11, and I should get 2 or 3 done
today. Yesterday for the first time, I weighed the airplane. That leads to
some questions:
I checked the web site and they show a typically equipped empty weight of 750
pounds for the short wing and 790 for the long wing mono wheel. That is a 40
pound weight difference due to the bigger wings. I checked the Europa club
and the weights of a short wing, 914 equipped mono airplane average 860
pounds, with a low of 782 and a high of 947. If these airplanes had long
wings, this would translate to:
average 900 pounds.
Low 822 pounds.
High 987 pounds.
With the increased performance of the 914 engine over the 912S (15% at sea
level and more above that), one would think the airplane could carry more
weight. There is no difference between the max gross of any Europa airplane,
regardless of the engine. I know the structure is the reason for this, but
the max weight of the long wing is also listed the same as the short wing,
even though it has an ultimate wing loading of 10.89 Gs, vs 8.55 for the
short wing. In ancient times, I did flight test work for the Lear Fan and we
routinely flew the airplane over the max gross planned. So here is my big
question to the group:
My airplane looks to weigh about 926 pounds empty. In the real word (just
between the two of us!), what gross weights do people typically operate this
airplane? If you put 2, 180 pound people in a 900 pound empty weight short
wing airplane with full fuel, you can cannot carry anything else, since you
are right up against max of 1370.
I don't have the operating manual for the long wing airplane, so I don't know
what the official number will be yet. The good news is the CG falls right in
the middle, so I won't have to do any adjusting there. I did get carried away
with system redundancy and equipment, but all in all, it should be a good
airplane. Theoretically, I could pull it out the door and fly it today. It is
ready - I'm not and the FAA is not either - yet.
Thanks,
Dave
A227
Mini U2
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