>Gary McKirdy phoned to night to say that during ground testing his tail
wheel tyre deflated at aroud 25 knots and he was just a passenger with full
rudder doing nothing to stop a spin to the right which ended with the
outrigger folding back untill the wingtip scraped along the tarmac runway
stick fullback and no brakes applied but the tail came up till the prop hit
the deck. One blade wrecked and some paint to repair but Gary is sure thar
had he had a puncture during take off and had to land with a flat tyre the
result would have been much worse. Praps we know now why we've got that
solid tyre on the back these days. Ron S No33
It amazes me that so many people are persevering with the old tailwheel
arrangement. The new tailwheel is so much easier on the handling, and a
large number of Europa pilots who have got a lot of experience on both types
are unreservedly saying the same.
The change over to the new tailwheel, if you've got the old one fitted is a
very straight forward job, taking no more than 2 to 4 hours, spread over 2
days to allow for curing times.
Everyone was quick enough to knock the factory whenever they made a mistake,
but on this score they have made a definite improvement and too many seem
not to be taking any notice!!!
Dave Watts 'XDY
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