Many thanks to all who responded to my questions, some of whom I have already
been
in touch with off-list.
The experience Erich shared with us today seems to be very much the way to go,
in principle, and is also used here in Norway, if the builder is not doing the
first flight himself.
For some unexplainable reason, I just want to do that first flight myself!
Although the trigear is easier to land and handle on the ground than the
monowheel,
I would still like to get some feel of it beforehand.
Flightcrafters in Florida have helped out builders in their shop with qualified
first flight/transition training pilots from the area, using the builder's own
Europa. Flightcrafters have no Europa to lend.
I talked with Liberty Aerospace today, thinking that Liberty XL might be the
closest
thing to Europa as far as flying characteristics. The person I talked to
(also a CFI) told me that even though the wings are the same as on the Europa,
Liberty XL does not fly just like the Europa (apart from the fact that no
Liberty
has yet been sold to a flying school and therefore is not readily available
for training). His opinion on the Diamond DA20 Katana was that it is a
different
airplane altogether, further away from Europa than the Liberty is.
Hmmm - still want to do that first flight, safely - - - - - - -
Regards,
Svein
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