One of my friends, who has a few hundred hours on my Europa, was a former chief
gliding instructor examiner for the Northern UK and has come close to breaking
a record or two, IIRC. So I've just phoned him to ask your question and his
reply in essence was "It's not." The reason he gave is that while a Europa's
wing
is pretty darned efficient when compared with other powered light aircraft,
it's nothing like as critical as wings on some glider types.
We've both flown through light rain on several occasions, but of course the rain
droplets blow off the wings almost instantaneously after passing through a
shower.
In such circumstances neither of us has ever noticed any change or deterioration
in the aircraft's handling. FWIW we're both retired commercial pilots.
Many years ago I was flying my Europa down the east coast of the Shetland
Islands
and got caught out by heavy rain which resulted in being almost IMC and flying
at reduced speed 80 knots along the cliffs for about 20 minutes. My biggest
fear was carburettor ice; not any worry about aerodynamics.
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