---------------------------------------------------------- Europa-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 03/04/08: 4 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 02:25 AM - mods (danny@mcwalterscafe.co.uk) 2. 10:38 AM - DOTH Wed 5th Coventry (Paddy Clarke) 3. 10:42 AM - Re: Motor glider first flight (Terry Seaver (terrys)) 4. 04:45 PM - Mod 73 - a safer approach (Rob Housman) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 02:25:15 AM PST US From: "danny@mcwalterscafe.co.uk" Subject: Europa-List: mods Thanks Brian / Simon, No my a/c isn't flying yet, I was trying to get the first flight by April,but,but,but, outside influences have scuppered that. The gearbox SB!! and I'm still waiting for the transponder and tranciever I ordered from Filser ( now Funkwerk ). I also have a summer seasonal business, so its looking like October. Still it will give me time to complete the paper work !! Again thanks Danny G-c.e.r.i. ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 10:38:29 AM PST US From: Paddy Clarke Subject: Europa-List: DOTH Wed 5th Coventry Hi Folks, I see that, unusually, Coventry has a landing voucher in Pilot this month. How about a DOTH there tomorrow Wed 5th? A couple of points - if you haven't got a voucher I imagine it could be quite expensive and the food is apparently 'light snacks'. However there is a pub in walking distance, so could anyone thinking of coming let me have their mobile numbers so we can coordinate if we decide to go off the airfield. Mine is 07723014233. 1200ish as usual, Cheers, Paddy Paddy Clarke Europa XS - 404 G-KIMM ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 10:42:59 AM PST US Subject: RE: Europa-List: Motor glider first flight From: "Terry Seaver (terrys)" Hi Kevin, We went out this morning and performed some sink rate tests with the engine off and the prop feathered. We got 270 fpm at 52 KIAS (59 kts TAS) at 7000 ft altitude, and 357 fpm at 60 KIAS (68 kts TAS). These are still somewhat preliminary numbers due to weather conditions this morning. The glide ratios are about 22:1 at 52 KIAS and 19:1 at 60 KIAS. This seems a little odd, as I would have expected 60 kts to be better than 52 kts, but as I said, this is rather preliminary. We have used glider tape to gap seal the wing roots, ailerons, and air brakes. We do not yet have fairings for the outrigger legs and do not have cowl flaps yet. We expect both of those things to improve sink rate / glide ratio, especially at the higher speeds. Our CG with the short wings is 58.9" (900 pounds), and with the long wings is 60.4" (1003 pounds). The long wings moved our CG to the rear almost an inch, to just aft of nominal center of range. regards, Terry Seaver A135 / N135TD (motor glider at the moment) Pleasanton, CA -----Original Message----- From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com on behalf of Kevin Klinefelter Sent: Fri 2/29/2008 4:52 PM Subject: Re: Europa-List: Motor glider first flight Terry & Dave, Congratulations! I imagine that your sink rate tests were with the engine off and the prop feathered? Did the CG change with the long wings installed? Best LD will be found near the aft limit. Have you sealed the gaps in the wing root? Glad to hear you guys are gliding... Kevin Terry Seaver (terrys) wrote: > > > Dave DeFord and I have been flying our short winged mono-wheel Europa > for over 6 years now, and have been working on interchangeable long > wings for the past four years or so. We finally finished them and had > our first flight yesterday morning. > There was no drama, everything went well. We got in a total of four > flights, two each. A few comments are as follows; > > 1) There is a slight tendency to roll right, most noticeable a 100+ kts. > We are not sure yet what is causing this. > > 2) Very preliminary tests of the minimum sink rate were 400 fpm (at 50 > kts indicated), later test indicated 350 fpm (at 52 kts indicated) after > taping up the aileron and airbrake gaps. We had hoped for 250-280 fpm, > so we need to look for ways to improve this. Fairings for the > fixed-down outriggers are probably a good place to start. > > 3) The airbrakes are not as effective as the spoilers on the Katana > Extreme we got our glider ratings in last September. The air brakes > also cause a pitch/speed change, which causes some porpoising on landing > if the brakes are used to modulate your approach/flare. The plane also > tends to float a while in ground effect, even with full airbrakes on. > > 4) The mono-wheel twitchiness on the ground is greatly reduced by the > bigger, heavier wings. > > 5) The long wings add 103 pounds to empty weight, compared to the short > wings. > > 6) Stall speed is about 45 kts indicated, with and without airbrakes > applied. As stall speed approaches, the plane just gets loose and the > nose bobs up and down. No tendency to break, it just bobs up and down, > complaining about it. We haven't tried accelerated stalls yet. > > Please note that these test are very preliminary. > > Regards, > Terry Seaver > A135 / N135TD > Pleasanton, CA > ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 04:45:33 PM PST US From: "Rob Housman" Subject: Europa-List: Mod 73 - a safer approach I'd like to think that I am not the only builder to have found a way to permanently bond the tailplanes to the torque tubes. After struggling to forcibly remove the tailplanes (which required both a large pry bar and sufficient heat) after my first attempt at following the factory's procedure, I decided that there is a much safer way to do the job. Substitute a mandrel for the torque tube and do the work on the work bench instead on the airplane. The attached drawings show how I did this. The epoxy still bonded the tailplane to the mandrel, even with plenty of wheel bearing grease on the mandrel and frequent rotation of the mandrel while the epoxy cured, but now I had a means to apply force against the rib via a screw into the outer mandrel section and a closed end tube against the rib (not shown in the drawings). In addition to using the mandrel instead of the torque tube I fabricated an aluminum retainer rather than rely on the fiberglass-epoxy layup alone to retain TP06, but this is probably unnecessary. For anyone who wants to use this method I will provide my (no longer needed) mandrel assembly at no cost - just pay the shipping charges. Best regards, Rob Housman Irvine, CA Europa XS Tri-Gear A070 Airframe complete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message europa-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Europa-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/europa-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/europa-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.