Steve Parker wrote:
[snip]
> am currently at the " trying to convince my
>wife it's a good idea stage"
[snip]
> once in the air how does she fly?
Steve - I assume from your e-mail address that you're UK based. I'd advise
you to go to the factory in Yorkshire and have a demo flight, if at all
possible. This is a big advantage the Europa has over many other designs,
particularly the newer US ones - you can easily get a flight in a known
good example to assess the characteristics in person. (phone 01751 431773
to book)
If your wife is willing to go along too, that may help sell the idea. She
should be able to get a flight also - but tell Ivan/Pete/Andy to lay off
the high-G manouevres and aerobatics (unless she herself is a pilot or at
least fairly seasoned in the air already).
You need to have her on your side before you embark on this project, or
you'll finish up with AIDS (aviation-induced divorce syndrome). This may
take a long time to achieve - Wilma took several years to get from "You're
going to do WHAT?" to where now, as we look around yet another house that
might be suitable & I go straight for the double garage with the tape
measure, _she_ says casually to the puzzled vendor, "Oh, he's going to
build an aeroplane".
Committing this much of yourself to anything (even as one partner rather
than a sole builder) will put quite a bit of stress on your personal
relationships. There's no point in starting with them already stressed
because your partner doesn't agree with your course of action.
If she's not happy with aeroplanes and flying stuff generally, then you
have a long and difficult task - you could almost call it a courtship,
because there's not much logic or rational stuff in personal aviation that
you can bring to bear in an attempt to win her over by argument. If she
already flies with you, and it's just the idea of the building, or the
committing of the cash, then you need to get into your local PFA strut and
try to immerse yourselves in the general principle of owning a part of an
aeroplane that you built yourself. The PFA is now on the WWW, point your
browser at:
http://www.hiway.co.uk/aviation/pfahome.html
or phone (if you're not a member, join before asking them for advice!) on
01273 461616 to find out your nearest strut.
Hope this helps.
cheers
Rowland
... that's Rowland with a 'w' ...
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