Ken, and others considering selling their older Europas.
A good flying airplane in need of a bit of maintenance is not worth
cutting up. Sell it.
Bringing an older plane up to good maintenance standards (cosmetically
older, but well maintained) is given below as an example: In the
military we called this a major phase or IRAN. Inspect and Repair as
Necessary.
This is the process I go through for any 10 year old Europa XS monowheel
airplane (500-800 hours) to bring it up to good flying standards: This
takes about 3-4 weeks to do working every day. It is a super annual.
Confirm the oil is purged properly and start and run the engine if
possible and get a compression and oil check.
If starting the engine is suspect, pull the plugs and fog the cylinders
to prevent corrosion while in for the major phase.
Then do the following:
I really dislike mono maintenance so, I would set the plane in my rack,
Pull the engine, clean it thoroughly, accomplish any service mods and
ADs
Check the coolers and mountings for wear/leaks
Probably send the gearbox to Lockwood for a few hundred for a rebuild if
never done.
Rebuild both carbs and replace the jets
IRAN the prop and bring it back up to new status.
Pull the firewall
Inspect the engine and gear frames, change the mounts and accomplish
corrosion control.
Disassemble the gear, inspect and replace all bushings and repair as
necessary
Go from nose to tail and change out all the rubber parts (hoses,
ignition wires, rubber shock block, fuel lines, tires if applicable) if
it hasn't been done within 5 years.
Flush the fuel tank and inspect.
Inspect the bearings in the wings and flap outrigger bushings and
repair/replace.
Accomplish the mods needed and required:
Mods not done by you if I recall (its been 10 years), that you should
have put in or at least checked since your build:
Mod 73
<http://www.europa-aircraft.com/pdfs/modifications/Mod%2073.pdf>
# Mandatory. Tailplane retention - applicable to all Europas.
Really just check yours as you had covers which glassed the TP
bearings in pretty well. If not, it is a 4 hour job.
Mod 72
<http://www.europa-aircraft.com/pdfs/modifications/Mod%2072.pdf>
# Mandatory. Undercarriage mounting frame strengthening - the
bulletin includes a mandatory inspection for all Europas delivered
before end 2006, and a modification for some Europas depending on
engine, engine mounting, and propeller.
With the engine pulled, and my big drill bit, it's a no brainer.
Mod
70<http://www.europa-aircraft.com/pdfs/modifications/Mod%2070.pdf>
# Mandatory. Mass balance arm modification - applicable to all
Europas delivered before February 2005
This is a good mod for the monowheel. It incorporates very good
machined fittings in robust tubing. I do retain the cables and put
light turnbuckles on them so the mass balance does not bang around.
Mod
66<http://www.europa-aircraft.com/pdfs/modifications/Mod%2066.pdf>
# Gas strut repositioning. This Mod moves the gas strut anchor
point on the door, reducing the stress on it.
I don't recall if we moved your struts, and I'll bet the struts
you have are pretty weak.
Mod
62<http://www.europa-aircraft.com/pdfs/modifications/Mod%2062.pdf>
# Replacement of tailplane torque tube drive pins. This
modification introduces 3/8" diameter pins in place of the existing =BC"
pins; the bearing stress is reduced by 1/3rd, which will tolerate ground
loads better than before. Only if the existing ones are loose. If they
are tight SB15 should fix this.
I would not let my painter see the plane as he would want to sand off
that Polyfiber Paint, but it is good paint and dings are fixable and I
am sure it has held up well as you always hangared the plane. However,
sanding down the paint to primer does allow you to find delaminations
quite easily. Then sand with 320, prime and repaint. If the interior
just needs a cleaning, fine.
Doing the above is really a pain in a lonely hangar in the middle of
winter, but not so bad when you have the facilities we have here.
If I were buying a used aircraft, I would pull the panel and inspect and
repair as necessary any avionics or electrical problems, (which I doubt
you have) to be sure of proper operation.
Then I would go fly the PEE out of it as it would be good as new.
Conversion to a trigear with a speed kit is costly if done prior to a
sale . It takes three weeks of labor to do this plus the parts. Then
the plane needs repaint.
If you leave it to the new owner, he probably will risk not making sure
the above inspections are done as he assumes he got the deal of the
century and figures it hasn't broken yet, so why worry. Best to find a
retiree with grown kids and no wife to sell it to in that case. Doing
all the required maintenance (unless you have diligently kept it up
yourself), alone in a hangar would take months. It would even take a
month here. The mono is a nasty job unless you get it off the floor
like I do it.
Selling it as is, is the smart thing to do. The EAA sales document is
very thorough. A new owner buying, as is, looks to a bit of risk on any
experimental and more so if he fails to inspect and repair before
flight. The EAA sales contract is clear but if the new owner has small
kids, talk to AOPA's lawyers. The kids can sue (or a lawyer for them)
as their rights to their parents loss cannot be signed away by a parents
contract, and we don't want that.
10 year old aircraft, poorly maintained with sketch documentation do not
command a high sale price. If you dump it on the market, then we other
owners get hurt. A seller, paying out of pocket for the above
maintenance before the sale, may spend the equal of the selling price in
labor. Further, mono wheels for new owners are uninsurable which drops
the price further..
I can always sell a trigear that is built and flying, but a mono is
tougher. It takes a special guy who understands the plane is not a
tail dragger, it is a mono wheel. This is something you have mastered
Ken. Frankly you always made landing the mono look easy.
I'll email you some other info this weekend on prices and options to
give you a game plan. I don't envy your decision.
Jim Brown just went through this and his new owner is converting the
plane to a trigear, even though his bird was an excellent looking, well
maintained mono, ready to fly with annual, it is getting converted by
the new owner.. Jim let it go knowing it would make the sale...
Regards,
Bud Yerly
----- Original Message -----
From: Ken Carpenter<mailto:kbcarpenter@comcast.net>
To: europa-list@matronics.com<mailto:europa-list@matronics.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:16 PM
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Checking out in the mono/conventional gear
Europa, Instructors needed
Interesting problem. I am interested in selling my Europa but would
like to have it updated by you first. Actually, I was hoping someone
would buy it and get the work done. It needs new bungee and some of gas
line replacement. Then there are the tail plane mods that I have not
done. Then I was thinking the buyer might want to convert it to a tri
gear. Maybe I should just chop it up for parts. Any ideas about these
issues?
Ken carpenter
Sent from my iPad
On Feb 16, 2012, at 5:54 PM, "Bud Yerly"
<budyerly@msn.com<mailto:budyerly@msn.com>> wrote:
Guys,
We haven't breached the subject of instructors for Bi annual or
initial checkouts in the Europa for some time and it would be great to
have a list updated annually somewhere. So I'll do it for here in the
States.
I have a list, but my instructors are getting far and few between,
as they are getting older and letting their ratings drop do to health
and liability concerns...
Background:
Insurance companies are getting tougher on all tail draggers,
especially the mono wheel.
Richard Kundel informed me his insurance company requires 10 hours
of dual in make and model (conventional gear) before solo and 5 hours
additional solo before taking passengers and he has a tail wheel
endorsement. Another client of mine is in need of a CFI Glider
instructor for his bi annual and it must be in the Europa.
Because I own a trigear and have a little more flight experience, my
insurance company doesn't care what I get my bi annual in. This is not
the case for all and it is particularly painful for those selling their
Europa and trying to find someone to check out the new owner for
insurance purposes. But I lost my local CFI who I checked out in my
plane, and I was really letting it hang out as the plane could not be
used for checkouts for a fee. Very painful now.
Jerry Hope out of Greenville TN is the only CFI owner I know at the
moment who is current. He is also checked out in my aircraft.
Any others?
Name, Location, Type CFI, (CFIG, CFII etc.), Does he have or own and
will he use his personal Europa to train in.
Kindly Respond
Bud Yerly
Europa Tech Support
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