> no choice....By the way this is a usefull builders forum but are there any
> Europa flyers out there ,a pool of operating experiences would be
> interesting.....
An excellent idea !!
I now have 55 hours on my Europa, most of them pleasant.
I'm quite happy to share the facts and figures/experiences with regard to
the aeroplane. In fact I've been thinking of posting them for some time.
It's so difficult to get really accurate readings though !
Here are some provisional figures:
BWFX fitted with standard Rotax 912
APS: 791 lb
Pilot weight: 156 ib
Full fuel: 18 gal (yes, 18 gal)
Prop: Warp Drive, 3 blade ground adjustable at 17 degrees.
Performance at around 1080 lb:
Max engine (static): 5250 rpm
In climb (70 kts): 5080 rpm
Max straight & level: 5840 rpm
Take off/landing roll and climb:
In still air I can operate off a smooth cut grass segment around 285m long
which has an incline. I would probably feel ok with fields around 330 m long
with GOOD approaches.
The takeoff run at gross, in warm humid conditions is a lot longer than the
landing. In particular, the initial climb with flaps deployed,
(at all up weight) is not very impressive. Once the flaps are up, I can get
700 ft/min. On cool days at light weights I can achieve nearer 1100 ft/min.
The aircraft can cruise at about 120 kts at 5500 rpm (max continuous) at 1000ft.
A REALISTIC (go places) cruise is around 105 kts. At this speed, cockpit
noise levels are lower, economy is impressive, and the engine 'feels' less
stressed. At these sorts of speeds each extra mph makes LESS than a minutes
difference to journey time on a 240 mile cross country !!
My two way GPS runs give the following figures currently:
5000 rpm 114 kts
5500 rpm 122 kts.
(There might be an error of a couple of knots in this)
This doesn't seem to agree particularly closely with my ASI.
I reckon a variable pitch prop would make a big difference, particularly to
initial climb. I would also like to cruise around at 4500 rpm/125 kts.
Probably worth watching engine/prop development over the next couple of years.
Other figures:
EGT's front two (prop side) around 820 C
rear two (cockpit side) around 870 C (A bit higher than I'd like !)
Fuel economy is VERY impressive, particularly at lower revs.
CHT and Oil temp. are maneagable. Can probably be lowered by backing off the
lower cowl.
I've had one 'incident'. On take-off during the suspension compression phase
of a GENTLE bounce, I raised the tail too high and dinged the prop. This is
much easier to do than I thought, beware !!
Anyone else have figures/thoughts ?
alan
|