Mike,
Fact is : There are tens of thousands of registered flying hours with Europas,
without structural failures, although amateur built. Almost too good to be true.
Fact is, that floppy tailplanes have been known to excist. To the point that
mods have been made like the club mod, and the Harrison clamp. Fact is that
this is the first time it lead to disaster.
So it's at least discussable under which catagory, plane structural or pilot
error
flying with loose, floppy tailplanes falls.
We all have the reponsability to make sure we fly an airworthy plane. This
discussion
has moved the line from what we judge to be airworthy, because of the accident.
It has not changed the hardware. But now that we know, more then ever,
that we have to critical with what we take in the air.
The what if question is pretty useless. The Tacoma bridge would not have been
built
if the flutter factor had been known. Flutter is something that is difficult
to calculate in advance. Has been, will be.
All we have to do from now is make sure that our little planes remain in their
tested, safe specifications. That is without tolerances.
And PLease!
Let us also be precise on other parts like ailerons and flaps, before also these
fail because tolerances are over the limit.
Regards,
Jos Okhuijsen
Visit - www.EuropaOwners.org
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