Europa High-Top

The Builder:
Peter Kember  
IT took Peter an estimated 1400 man-hours to build his Europa High-top, spread over 14 months. He was able to work two whole days a week, plus two evenings.
"It was just like an Airfix kit in a box," he says. "There was very little fabricating to do. It was almost easy!"

That's quite a contrast to the stories of early Europa builders who had to mix resin and lay up wings with glass fibre, then cure the lot in a controlled temperature and humidity for hours. That's down to the Accelerated Kit which Europa introduced.

"I built it in a wood jig which I built first and cost me £170 for the timber. That kept everything lined up, and I managed to sell the jig for £100 afterwards."
Peter's aircraft was the first High-top kit to come out of the Yorkshire factory, and he had the one and only 'hollow' tailplane - it is meant to become standard but hasn't done so yet.
 

The worst part of the build was constructing the triangulated rib that supports the main gearlegs at the base of the fuselage. "I had to look down into the hull to apply the glue, with fumes from various noxious chemicals coming up. It was awful." To the base kitprice of £21,295, you have to add £2475 for the Accelerated Stage 1 kit with virtually all the glass fibre work finished, £1875 for the Accelerated Cockpit Module, £8938 for the 100hp Rotax 912 engine, instruments (your choice), avionics (ditto), plus VAT on top.

The aircraft:
"I WANTED an aircraft that could handle a crosswind halfway down Italy," said Peter Kember, owner and builder of the Europa. Peter was one of the first to join the Europa revolution when it started in the mid-1990s, building one of the original monowheel aircraft and then flying it all over Europe, clocking up more than 800 hours.

That original Europa, designed by Ivan Shaw, now deeply involved with the factory-built Liberty XL2 two-seater, was the best in terms of inflight handling, says Peter. But it could prove a bit of a handful on landing, especially in a crosswind. Europa then launched the Tri-gear version with conventional nosewheel and main wheels undercarriage, which has been a huge success, and last year added the High-top. This has an extra 3in in height added to the cockpit sides to give improved headroom.

Peter snapped up the first one, which also happened to be kit no 1000, spent just over a year building it, and has now clocked up 110 hours. Although 10kt slower, with a fuel burn 2.5 litres/hour worse than his old monowheel Europa, the added room and convenience of the Tri-gear makes the High-top much more usable for Peter.

Still, it was still with a bit of trepidation for me when we lined up at Fenland with a sporting crosswind across the runway. The heat - around 33ºC - was also a factor. We'd just seen a C152 stagger off with two people onboard using pretty much all the runway - just as well it's flat around Fenland.

The Europa cabin was stifling and even when we started to bat down Fenland's grass, the airflow through the cabin was still poor. Still your mind concentrates on flying when the controls come alive, and we lifted off at about the halfway mark (about 300 metres). At around 200ft, reached by the perimeter, Peter retracted the 15-degrees of flap used for takeoff, and we climbed to 1500ft, quickly catching the C172 cameraship aheadThe Europa High-top cruises economically at 110-115 knots,

FAST FACTS

EUROPA HIGH-TOP
PERFORMANCE
Cruise speed: (75%) 115kt
Stall speed: (full flap) 44kt
Rate of climb: 1000 ft/min
Takeoff roll: 180m
Landing roll: 184m
Fuel burn: 14 litres per hour
Range approx: 575nm (no reserve)

SPECIFICATIONS
Power: Rotax 912ULS producing 100hp
Prop: 3-blade constant-speed Airmaster
Length: 5.84m
Wingspan: 8.28m
Seats: 2
Empty weight: 354kg
Mtow: 623kg
Useful load: 269kg
Fuel capacity: 70 litres

PRICE
Base kitprice: £21,295

MANUFACTURER
Europa Aircraft (2004) Ltd
7 Dove Way
Kirkby Mills Industrial Estate
Kirkbymoorside
York YO62 6QR
UK
T: +44 (0)1751 431 773
W: www.europa-aircraft.com