Kit 055 Classic Trigear G-OBJT finally took to the air between heavy showers at
Old Sarum on Friday 3rd June at 1805 BST. Test pilot David Scouller made this,
his first Europa, the 193rd type to grace his logbooks (he is trying for 200
before he retires). David flew for 35 minutes and managed to achieve a very
complete schedule of handling tests before the approaching gloom curtailed
operations.
Stalls were thoroughly checked, indicating a slight left wing drop
- possibly connected to slight asymmetric flap lowering which generated a slight
roll in that direction. VNE was attempted but abandoned at 157 Kts when rough
air was encountered. Otherwise there are few snags to clear and the Grand
Rapids EFIS came in for special praise.
G-OBJT weighed in at 830 lbs empty, which I guess is a little on the heavy side
considering the 912S sits behind a Warp Drive prop, but this is probably down
to my painting efforts which entailed many extra coats to achieve a reasonable
finish.
My thanks to John Grant who commenced the build way back in '94, Inspectors
Graham
Singleton and Ted Terry who examined the beast, and David Scouller who has
started the test process so successfully.
Brian and Pat Tarmar
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