Having purchased an XS kit from an individual, who had never started
work, I got a mono. Before buying, however, I took a ride with John
Hurst, who only had a mono to demonstrate. After watching an
experienced pilot, like John, handle the mono on concrete, I quickly
made the decision to go Tri-gear. I've never regretted that decision.
As for handling on rough grass (I'm hangared on a 3k grass strip), there
certainly is a little bounce, however, the secret, I've found, is to
keep the nose high at all times. Even in fast taxi it makes a huge
difference. I've got over 500 landings on this surface, with no ill
effects to plane or pilot... :)
Jeff - Baby Blue
Brian Davies wrote:
>
> Hi Marcel,
>
> You have touched on a hotly debated subject - Mono versus Trigear.
>
> I originally built a Monowheel Europa with a Rotax 912S and Airmaster
> variable pitch prop. It was a very capable aircraft, enormous fun to fly
> and no real problem taking off and landing on grass. I found it quite
> challenging to land in a crosswind on tarmac and eventually decided to
> convert the aircraft to Trigear configuration. It is now a much more
> forgiving aircraft to land in crosswinds but it does not enjoy bumpy grass
> so much. If the aircraft has been modified to fit steel nosewheel springs
> instead of the original bungee cords it can get quite "bouncy" if not
> handled carefully on bumpy surfaces.
>
> As with most aircraft types, once you have developed your technique none of
> these things are a real problem.
>
> Most Trigear are about 16Kg heavier than an equivalent Monowheel and tend to
> use slightly more fuel. The difference only really shows up on long
> distance touring were the Mono has the edge on performance. If you intend
> to do long distance touring and want to exploit the full capacity of the
> aircraft in terms of full fuel, two people and ample baggage, look for a
> Europa that is no more than 400Kg empty weight.
>
>>From a pure enjoyment angle I found the Mono much more challenging and much
> more fun. As a Trigear it gives me a much more relaxed flying experience
> and more enjoyable touring.
>
> There are a number of high quality Europas fore sale at the moment so this
> is a good time to buy. I suggest you join the Europa Club and get access to
> a great deal of additional help and information. Go to their website
> www.europaclub.org.uk and follow the links to join online.
>
> Best regards
>
> Brian Davies, Membership Sec.
> The Europa Club
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
> [mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of zwakie
> Sent: 22 August 2008 20:12
> To: europa-list@matronics.com
> Subject: Europa-List: Mono or Tri-Gear, what to choose?
>
>
> I'm new here, so let me first introduce myself: my name is Marcel, 45 years
> of age and from The Netherlands. I am a private pilot license holder since a
> couple of years, currently about 125 hours in my logbook and thinking about
> buying my own plane. I have decided to go for an Europa (I guess you all the
> know the reasons why :wink: ), and instead of building one myself I will be
> looking for one that is for sale.
>
> During my search on the web I also visited the Air Accidents Investigations
> Branch website, and what kind of struck me there is the high number of
> incident-reports involving Europa's, even though the trend seems to be fewer
> incidents occur over time. I have read most of these reports (don't ask!) to
> learn more about Europa's and what to expect from this type of aircraft.
>
> One picture that evolved from these reports was that a relative high number
> of incidents occurred with the mono-gear type.
>
> Besides incidents with technical causes, a significant number of mono-gear
> incidents were caused by pilot error: not lowering and locking the gear or
> not being able to properly deal with cross- and/or gusty winds seem to be
> the two most common causes.
>
> What surprised me was that of these pilot-error incidents occurred with
> experienced pilots on the controls (experienced as in: lots and lots of
> hours, quite often also with hundreds of hours on type).
>
> Obviously incidents also occurred on the nose wheel types due to cross-
> and/or gusty winds, but the number of incidents were significantly lower.
>
> Well, I guess you will know where this is leading: I will have to decide
> between a mono-gear or nose-wheel Europa, and would like to find out if
> flying the mono-gear is that much more difficult as compared to the
> nose-wheel. I also would like to get some idea of how a nose-wheel Europa
> compares to f.i. Cessna's 152/172 in terms of handling it in take-off and
> landings.
>
> All information that you can provide to help me in my decision-making
> process is highly appreciated!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Visit - www.EuropaOwners.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> 06:48
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
>
>
>
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