Flying the Europa

This section of the website documents flying experiences and flight testing of Europas #144 ZK-UBD, #239 ZK-RJL, G-KITZ, G-GBXS and #272, ZK-TSK.

 ZK-UBD

This aircraft was constructed in Australia and flew as VH-UBD until it was imported into New Zealand in April 2000 with 70 hours on the clock. After some rework which included changes in instrumentation and the fitting of an ELT it made its first New Zealand flight at 09:40 NZST on June 24th 2000.

The aircraft is owned by Airmaster Ltd, manufacturers of the Airmaster variable pitch and constant speed hub systems and is used as a flying test bed for the further development of these products.

The author of this site, Tony Krzyzewski, is the designated test pilot for this aircraft and, whenever possible, will be documenting the flying characteristics of the aircraft. It should be noted that some of the flight test reports will be covered by commercial confidentiality requirements and therefore cannot be published here.

The author is unable to enter into correspondence regarding the Airmaster hub systems.

ZK-UBD First New Zealand Flight, Ardmore Airport, June 24th 2000

The aircraft was left in its as built configuration for the purposes of this production test flight with Rotax 912 and a fixed pitch propeller attached. ZK-UBD has the XS tailwheel modification fitted but other than that flies as a Europa Classic. A wing mounted pitot/static port has been fitted to the port wing slightly forward of the aileron bellcrank inspection hole. Stall strips are fitted as is a lateral trim tab on the starboard aileron.

The first flight targets were to test the basic operation of the aircraft and, as this was the first of type in New Zealand, provide a method of getting the author type rated on the aircraft. I flew left seat while, Warren Satler, CFI of Ardmore Flying School and A-Cat instructor with a lot of taildragger experience flew right seat as Pilot in Charge.

Takeoff was smooth with little tendency to veer. Deliberate action was taken to ensure that the tailwheel stayed down until aileron control was established. On rotation the aircraft was flown in ground effect until the climb speed of 60knots was reached  and at that point the aircraft brought up to 20 feet above the ground. Having confirmed that control was positive in all directions a climb was started and the gear raised at 200 feet.

Out in the local training area the effects of control were explored right up to wingover turns before proceeding with stall tests. The stall speed clean shows 39 knots with strong buffeting and no tendency to wing drop. The approach stall showed an indicated speed of 30 knots, again with strong buffeting at which point recovery action was taken. The aircraft in both cases recovered with application of full power. The low indicated speed does point towards the airspeed indicating low and this will be explored in future flights.

Returning to the field a total of nine landings were performed, the first and last three being in the hands of Tony Krzyzewski while the centre block were performed by Warren.

The first landing felt like an arrival however external observers report that it looked quite smooth. Exploring the landing setup resulted in the conclusion that the best way to land the aircraft was to make a high approach into the flare and to leave a small amount of power on until landed. Using this technique it was possible to land with a much lower ground speed than shallower engine idle landings. The power on landing technique also resulted in each landing being extremely smooth.

Visibility over the nose is excellent compared to many taildraggers and at no stage was it felt that insufficient runway was visible for normal operations.

Conclusions gain from the flight are...

• The aircraft  is powered by a sewing machine.
• It is critical not to climb straight from takeoff, remain in ground effect until climb speed has been established. Failure to do this could easily result in a departure stall.
• When landing keep a high approach angle into the flare and leave some power on until on the ground.
• Land the aircraft in three (two, four?) point attitude.
• Keep the outriggers off the ground as long as possible after landing.

ZK-UBD Fixed vs Constant Speed Flight Testing, July & August 2000

Having established the flight characteristics of the aircraft with a Warp Drive fixed pitch propeller, the Airmaster CS hub was fitted. What a change! The Europa certainly benefits from the use of a Constant Speed hub with a  large increase in cruise speed, a very noticeable reduction in takeoff run and a climb rate that leaves a big smile on the face.

Takeoff with the CS hub fitted consists of applying full throttle, keeping the tail on the ground until aileron control is active (which takes about 7-10 seconds) and then centering the stick. At this point the aircraft levitates. More forward stick keeps the aircraft in ground effect until 65 knots is attained at which point the stick can be moved just a fraction aft. Blastoff!!! With pilot and passenger on board with 60 litres of fuel this aircraft leaps skywards at over 1000 feet per minute. You have to note that at 65 knots with the flaps down, the Europa is flying just about flat so it feels like a great big hand has reached out of the sky, grabbed the plane and dragged you up into the sky. I haven't recorded the solo climb on takeoff yet as I have always been too busy wiping the silly grin off my face. 

Experience on the Europa to date has resulted in the following observations...

• I am finding that the tops of the rudder pedals are too narrow. This is not a problem if you are wearing hard soled shoes but if you a wearing soft soled shoes it can be quite uncomfortable after three hours of continuous manoeuvring. In fact on one flight I got cramp in my toes as a result. ZK-TSK will have extension sleeves fitted to prevent this.
• The design of the lumbar support is all important when it comes to flight comfort otherwise you end up with a numb posterior!
• 15 degree banks don't exist on the Europa.
• The sight gauge is nigh on impossible to use in flight, especially when it is getting low. An alternative method of fuel indication is very desirable.
• A demister is required for early morning flight.
• Adding a rear air vent to the low pressure area on the turtledeck considerably enhances ventilation within the aircraft. Even on days with the ambient ground temperature as low as 3 celcius the cockpit soon gets warm so adequate ventilation is a must.
• If the aircraft is hangared a tow hook for the rear wheel is very handy if you are handling the aircraft yourself.
• A good landing in the aircraft can be very good, a bad landing can be horrible. Fortunately the good are outnumbering the bad!

ZK-UBD End of August 2000

Tuning of the Airmaster propellor controller has brought the takeoff roll down to 3-4 seconds.

This arcraft is incredibly responsive in flight. At the end of the month I took it up for a photo session, formating with a C172 for the first time in my life. For over an hour I was able to maintain close formation with the C172 and never at any time felt like I was putting myself in an unsafe position. Most noteable was that I don't recall touching the rudder pedals at any time, the aircraft is so well harmonised that the rudder pedals are almost superfluous in flight.

ZK-UBD May 2001 - Crosswind Handling

Many people ask me how the monowheel handles in a crosswind. My answer now is ... better than a trike!

With experience, the monowheel can be put onto the ground quite comfortably in the quite blustery crosswind situations that we frequently encounter in New Zealand. I fly the mono in any wind conditions that I would comfortably fly a C172 into - in fact I have ended up in conditions that would have been 'interesting' for the 172 yet the monowheel handled it as if there was nothing to worry about.

I believe there are a few contributing factors that help the monowheel's ability to handle crosswinds...

a) There is only one wheel and this helps a lot! Only having one wheel removes the drag offset that occurs when touching down with conventional geared taildraggers when you haven't eliminated all of the drift. Try landing a Piper Colt in a good crosswind without removing all of the drift... as soon as one wheel touches the ground you had better be quick on the pedals.

b) The outriggers can be very effectively used to counter weather cocking - an outrigger held on the ground is a much stronger force than an aileron. I use this to advantage when taking off in strong crosswinds, holding the into wind wing down so that the outrigger stays on the ground right until rotation. On landing you can be selective as to which outrigger touches first and again, use this to advantage.

c) The landing speed of the Europa is very low which, in a good crosswind, results in a very short ground roll. On a good wide runway this can be used to advantage by landing at an angle across the runway thus reducing the effective crosswind component.

d) The Europa has incredibly powerful and responsive controls. This is an aircraft that goes where it is told to go and does it with impeccable manners.

e) The large flap helps. Slow the plane down quickly on landing and it isn't going to leave the ground again. Conversely, it gives the plane excellent characteristics for takeoff reducing the ground roll considerably.

f) Put on an Airmaster prop  and 912S into and on takeoff you aren't going to be on the ground long enough to think about crosswinds.

I also suspect that the motorglider will benefit from increased momentum due to the longer wing span. If anyone is willing to donate a set of glider wings I'll be happy to prove if I am right :-)

The crosswind technique for the mono (and glider) is to crab approach then kick straight in the flare. Glider pilot's do it all the time and it ends up feeling a lot more natural than the wing low technique taught for high wing aircraft.

I am now at the point where I can't remember a bad landing and most of the time am able to just kiss the ground on landing. The big secret here is not to try to make every touchdown a short field landing. If you let it use just a bit more runway this aircraft will arrive with the gentlest touch. If you have to make a short field approach and still want to achieve a very smooth touchdown then a very steep approach into the flare is required. Predicting the flare point for short field approaches is an art as the aircraft will float some way once it gets into ground effect.

G-KITZ and G-GBXS July 2002  Europa Demonstators

Following the PFA Rally, Europa very kindly offered to give me some time on the factory demonstrators based at Wombleton in North Yorkshire. G-KITZ is the tricyle gear undercarriage demonstrator and is fitted with a 914 engine with Airmaster prop. Performance is spritely to say the least! Steering the aircraft on the ground takes a bit of getting used to due to the fact that at speeds below 30 knots or so steering is dependent upon differential braking with the two brake handles while still using the same hand to manipulate the throttle. Steering is best accomplished with short stabs at the brake rather than attempting to apply gradual brake action. Being used to the very precise control with the tailwheel, steering took a bit of getting used to. Flying the trike was very similar to the monowheel until it came to base leg. I found that the approach phase was busier than the monowheel as the electric flap has no pre set position system while in the flareout I just had to remember to land a bit higher than I do in the monowheel. I flew a few flapless landings and discovered that it is really important to remember just how powerful the Europa's stabilators are.

G-GBXS felt like ZK-UBD on steroids. There is a very distinct kick in the pants as the turbo kicks in. The speed climbs so rapidly that there is no need to sit in ground effect and a very respectable 1300 feet a minute climb was a achieved with two on board. In the circuit it was necessary to keep the throttle at 4000rpm in order to prevent the aircraft rapidly accelerating to its 147 knot full power cruise speed. Flying this aircraft solo would be an awful lot of fun!

ZK-UBD September 2002 On the Beach

One of the great pleasures of flying in New Zealand is the great outdoors and included in that are the great beaches.

As the weather improved from winter to spring a number aviators gathered on one of the west coast beaches near Auckland to exchange stories and cook mussels gathered from the local rocks over a roaring driftwood fire. Those who have never experienced the taste of a New Zealand greenlip mussel cooked this way have yet to discover one of the great taste sensations of the world.

The beaches in this area are black from the volcanic sand and iron content.... forget using a compass around here as it's going to point anywhere but true thanks to the 10% iron sitting under the plane.

Landing on the beach was interesting due to the lack of visual clues thanks to the continuous black surface without stripes but both I and the aircraft handled it well.

ZK-RJL, Europa #239, First Flight October 8th 2002

Having been asked by  ZK-RJL's builder, Russell Lister, seen in the photo above, to perform the first flight on Russell's Europa, I headed south to Timaru to do the honours.

Russell had done a wonderful job of building the plane and, having spent the previous evening going over the aircraft systems, I donned parachute and crash helmet and headed onto the active runway. A quick run up and down the seal runway at Timaru showed that the aircraft was going to handle well. At 10:21 NZDT (22:21 UTC 7th October), ZK-RJL took to the air for the first time. The climb rate on takeoff was delightful and I climbed to operate overhead at 5000 feet. After confirming the stall speeds clean and with flaps down I brought her back to earth after an initial 20 minute flight.

Two further shake down flights were performed that day then we retired to crack open a bottle of champagne (or two).

The next morning I took Russell up for a familiarisation flight then handed the plane over to him for his first Europa solo. A video of his first takeoff can be found here. (2.4Mb AVI format),

(Picture downloads will be in large format)

ZK-UBD October 10th 2002, Timaru to Auckland

With Russell trying hard to wipe the smile off his face it was time to head back home. Russell and I did a formation takeoff and I took a quick photo of him as I headed back across the Canterbury Plains. The run back to Auckland is 600 miles with a number of options available once you reach the top of the Canterbury plains. On previous trips I have always travelled down the east coast of the South Island but this time, with the skies crystal clear and with little wind I decided to take the route inland of the seaward Kaikoura range. (Picture download will be in large format)

	The seaward Kaikouras prove what happens when two tectonic plates collide with the peaks rising to over 9000 feet within a few miles of the coast. I headed inland towards Hamner Springs then climbed to 7500 feet to head into the depths of the mountain range. I must say that doing this for the first time is fairly daunting. While the ranges to the left of the aircraft sat with peaks a thousand or so feet below me the ridge to my right still loomed over 2000 feet above me. (Picture download will be in large format)
	Luckily this particular track follows a single north/south valley so, apart from one junction where the valley divides, all I had to do was keep the mountains to either side. At the upper end of the valley the land opens up to the next challenge of the flight... Cook Strait, renowned as being one of the roughest sea crossings in the world in bad weather. (Picture download will be in large format)
	Today however was perfect crossing weather, for my other trips I haven't been able to see the opposite side of the Strait when leaving the coast.  Cook Strait is fairly deceptive when you are heading north as it doesn't look so far across. The flight over the main section of the Strait takes around 20 minutes in the Europa then, once you have done that bit, there is another 15 minutes of water to cover before reaching any place you could put the plane onto safely. (Picture download will be in large format)
	I stopped off at Fox Pine airfield to stretch my legs then continued up the west coast of the North Island and over the bush covered hills to arrive at my home base of Ardmore airfield five hours after leaving Timaru. (Picture download will be in large format)