As Peter Thomas asked, I thought I would send this to everyone.
> How did your test ride go ?
>
Err, it didn't. Don't know where you were, but where we were on Friday
the weather was awful. Nasty cold front coming in from the west, solid
rain, 30 gusting 45 kts.
I didn't even want to try getting the Tomahawk out of Luton, let alone
into Wombleton, & the Europa people were no keener to fly either - up
there the cloud was only a few hundred feet up and whizzing across the
sky.
We drove up in the end, which wasn't a lot of fun, and visited the
factory & hanger to see G-KITS (? - the trigear) with Roger & Nigel,
which was fun. Nice people, quite impressive really. They were
somewhat positive about Subaru conversions, less so about the 914 -
they seem to be rather sceptical due to Rotax's continued reluctance to
go into full production. As you know they are playing with variable
pitch props, currently favouring a mechanically adjusted unit. Only
other change they would mention was the glider wings, which you all
will have heard about. No other engines, no "4-seater stretch",
amphibian boat hull or anything like that.
Had a good poke around the aircraft and sat in it. The trigear could
really do with a step! Inside was quite comfortable with good
visibility, but did seem rather less spacious than I expected.
Got the info pack & video. The video is rather slick with some nice
flying sequences and aerobatics. I must admit to being a little
surprised by the prices in the info pack. Perhaps I was just being
naive, but I though the airframe kit came to about GBP 10,000 and the
engine, prop. & systems a further GBP 7,000. However, pricing from
their info, including trailer, paint job, instruments and the dreaded
VAT I came to about GBP 30,000, possibly another 3-4k for the 914 (if it
ever materializes) and the variable pitch prop.
I know that's a brand new aircraft (what's the life of the Rotax 912?)
with a mix of abilities you won't easily (if at all) find in certified
designs and with very significantly reduced running costs, but it's
still getting up into the reaches of a decent second-hand piece of
tin. Obviously it's a question of personal circumstances, but I have
been disappointed to find the limitations involved with a (UK)
homebuilt in terms of lack of night and IFR (even IMC-style) usage and
in particular with the Europa being only a 2-seater.
Now, if you are just looking for pleasure use then it's not such a
problem, but I wish to fly into Europe on business trips and not always
be constrained to VFR. Horses for courses.
But it is a lovely little aeroplane, looks (sigh) like it flies very
well, and has very attractive performance / running cost figures.
Simon
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