Of the few times I have flown a Europa, the approach angle was definitely too
high with the gear and flaps up. However, that is not to say that a gear up
landing will never happen in a Europa. All retractable airplanes - Arrow, 210,
172RG etc... - have multiple safety devices to prevent gear-up landings, such
as warning lights and audible alarms. They also exhibit distinct aerodynamic
behavior with the gear down, such as noise and drag. Yet, people manage to
land them with the gear up all too often. With no warning lights or alarms one
could argue that Europas are more susceptible to gear-ups. However, I have
never heard of Europas landing gear up. You might want to search the FAA
incident database (and the UK equivalent) and show it to your insurance
agent.
Terry Seaver <terrys@cisco.com> wrote:
Hi all,
My insurance company classifys the Europa
as a complex aircraft due to its retractable gear
(and flaps and constant speed prop, i.e. Whirlwind).
This means my build partner and I need many
hours in complex and make/model. I
told the agent that the gear and flaps were
on one lever, and that I had heard discussions
to the effect that it would be very unlikely to
land gear/flaps up because of the unusually
high approach angle.
The agent said they might relax some of the
complex and/or make/model requirements
if I make inquiries of the email group and
verified the assumption.
Has anyone heard of a Europa being landed
gear up ?
Terry Seaver
A135
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