Well, if you were thinking about flying in for the annual (1st weekend in
June) Swedish EAA fly-in and didn't make it then you have another year to
wait. The Europa presence gets stronger each year and this year we finally
had the first Swedish Europas present (SE-XVT kit 416, and SE-XRX kit 300,
both tri-gear), one up from Denmark, and the 2 company planes piloted by
Keith Wilson and Ivan Shaw. It was great to finally meet and chat with the
man behind our machines. Ivan said it had been a good 2 years since he had
last flown a Europa and the trip up had reminded him just what a delightful
aircraft it is to fly. While Keith seemed to be handling the inquires on the
ground Ivan was busy giving demo flights, must be a while since anybody
actually got a demo flight from the maker himself. Here in Sweden the Europa
is listed by the local EAA (on "build-permits" etc.) as the "Shaw Europa
XS". There seemed to be increased interest this year probably due to the
fact that both the GBP and USD have recently fallen a bit against the
Swedish kronor, and given that Europas are starting to get airborne here.
Another Europa builder ran the composite technical workshop.
We were blessed with warm sunny weather for the whole weekend, and a nice
breeze right down the runway.
One of the more interesting designs to turn up for the first time was a
Sonex that flew over from Norway.
Philip (Stockholm, kit 426)
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