Apart from being extremely saddened by Cliff's death I guess we are all also
very puzzled by the whole accident sequence. We may never know the causes
leading up to the stall unless something entirely new comes to light from
the autopsy or the aircraft wreck.
I always thought that wings were designed to stall first at the root in
order to maintain aileron control a little bit longer. It seems that some
Europa wings stall completely at the same instance.
I am sure that Don Dykens or Andy would be able to elaborate, but they are
not speaking to us.
Now, Cliff had stall strips fitted, but were they actually in place on the
wreck ? Maybe Cliff had removed them again.
Graham S. had a similar accident but survived it fortunately. What were his
symptoms ?
I stalled once in a level climb in zero horizontal visibility. I remember a
slight shaking of the stick and put the nose down a bit. But it was already
too late, as I was now vertical in an incipient spin. I could make out the
farm fields in front of my nose. Luckily, I was at 4000 feet and recovered
very swiftly. I did not have a stall warner, but have now installed the
Europa kit, and am still calibrating it.
I put the buzzer on the 'shelf' between the camel humps and find it clearly
audible through my ANR headset. Also, it is powered by a 9V battery. I am
going to put another probe into the starboard wing, as wings don't always
stall at the same time.
Karl
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