Hi John,
I hope you don't mind me offering a counter opinion. I didn't find my
Europa a very good IFR platform. It was okay but I always maintained high
personal minimum, 600' on the ILS and 800' for non precision approaches. I
live in the mid west of the US and icing was always a concern. While one
should never fly into know icing conditions I had inadvertently picked up
ice in other aircraft I have flown and although concerning the aircraft
performed well enough to land it. Even then I new that all that had
happened was "I got away with it"
I did catch a small skim of ice on the Europa once and the aircraft
immediately lost 20 knots and I was worried that it would just quit flying
there and then! A flapless landing in a mono isn't possible and I was
really (really) nervous lowing the gear. I know we can all say that we
should avoid icing conditions but I encountered unforcasted ice many
times. Over the years I got smarter at figuring out potential or possible
conditions but I could never get comfortable. The other challenge is that
its slow approach speed isn't an advantage for instrument approaches. You
feel like you are hanging out on the ILS forever in wet moist clouds.
I haven't flown my aircraft for some time but in latter years all my IFR
flying was in VFR conditions. It is nice to be able to fly away from
somewhere crummy to somewhere nice, and I find the National Aerospace
System (NAS) a delight to use.
Just my 2 cents worth, and as they say "Your mileage may vary"
Cheers, Paul
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 10:24 AM John Wigney <johnwigney@windstream.net>
wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
>
> There is a good link on this subject at
> https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/intro-to-aircraft-building/frequently-asked-questions/equipping-a-homebuilt-for-ifr-operations
>
> I am not an IFR pilot but I have done 40 plus hours of training in my
> monowheel. My instructor was very happy with the plane and called it "a
> good IFR platform". I chose not to take the check ride as I decided not to
> fly single pilot IFR. A major reason for that is that I found the plane to
> be fairly neutral on heading and I was not happy to find myself 10 to 15
> degrees off course if I groped around in the back for something. I have now
> fitted a heading autopilot driven by my Dynon D10A which works very well
> following the pink line on my Garmin 430 so that addresses that primary
> concern. I really have no need for IFR and am happy to leave it that way.
>
> Anyway, I am not aware of any certification requirement apart from an
> entry in the logbook regarding compliance with 14 CFR Part 91, section
> 91.205.
>
> Cheers, John
>
>
> *From: Jeff B **<topglock@cox.net> <topglock@cox.net>*
>
> *Subject: Europa-List: IFR certification Good morning all, I'm wondering
> if someone out there has any information on certifying the Europa for IFR
> flight (in the USA). Is there a statement in the operating limitations that
> might mention this? I've a person interested in my bird who is asking about
> it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, *
> *-- Jeff *
>
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