Let me introduce myself to yall. I am a 46 year old German living since 1987
in the Old South of the US of A, in Raleigh North Carolina. Being a passionate
glider pilot, I just sold my LS4 that I put over 600 hours on and bought a
Schleicher ASW 24. For those of you not familiar with gliders, this is a 15 m
Standard Class machine with winglets and a glide ratio of (hopefully) 43:1. I
also hold a private SEL license and am working on my instrument rating.
The Europa caught my eye many years ago since, I found it had some of the design
features normally only found in gliders. I particularly liked the laminar
airfoil, developed with the help of people familiar with high performance
gliders. Also, most of the fiberglass American homebuilts are not suitable for
operation from grass strips. My wish is to find out more about the Europa and
perhaps start building one. As a mechanical engineer with plenty of model
building experience (of course airplanes) I think I could do it.
Of course, I would especially like to hear from Europa builders or those
interested in starting their own project here in the US. Anybody else
interested in soaring the US East coast sites, let me know. I am a member of
several clubs in NC and Virginia and the ridge soaring along the Appalachian
Mountains can be pretty spectacular.
See you at the airport!
Herb
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