I had hoped Europa's tailwheel update would be something like a bolt in
replacement assembly with a longer swing arm and perhaps torsion springs to
partially decouple its steering from the rudder. Or alternatively a new
shaft for the existing tailwheel fixture with a second bellcrank on the lower
end (within the fuselage) to drive the new tailwheel via springs.
I assumed the approach described, with the cables from the pedals terminating
at the rudder, was for testing and that a more elegant approach would be used
in XS production and for retrofits.
The larger question is whether this is the beginning of a real separation
between the original Europa and the XS, something which is almost certain to
happen at some point. If the XS uses a center hinged rudder with sturdier
hinges to facilitate this approach then it will point more strongly to a
separation between generations. It will be interesting to see if this is
followed by reduced support for the original, e.g. reduction or cessation of
manual updates for the original with updates for XS's only.
I look forward to hearing more about Graham's approach to the tailwheel.
John A044
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