raimo.toivio(at)rwm.fi
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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 12:16 pm Post subject: My Europas very first trip 2017 |
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Hello!
Quite many of you have emailed me and strictly required immediately more stories! That´s kind. Obviously I´m forced to use my Saturday evening to make this right now.
There is a nice movie starting, family is around our fire place and my wife would like to
share with me some mulled wine and...but I refused - am I a pure idiot or just a Typical Europa Fiend?
*** My Europa made her very first trip 2017 yesterday. However, no flight hours at all this time!
My habit is to tow her from EFTP hangar to EFRT home hangar once a year to make annuals, always
some mods (you know, there are always some tempting mods to do for safety or just for fun)
and necessary services. And then, from home to EFTP back 2...4 months later.
I do it always as is practical during the depth of winter, when it´s the least fun to fly.
And then I am able do some real work also, because I´m not easily possible to go and fly a bit...
I have always wondered and admired those Europa heros, who are able to tow their Europas
every day to the airdrome from home, rigg her, fly her, de-rigg her and tow her again home.
Some pilots can do it even alone! And obviously rigg/de-rigg it in 5 minutes! And, they are so
good drivers that they never crash the plane on the roads. An obviously other drivers are good also!
They say that driving to the airport is statistically the most riskies part of flying commercials.
Personally I would like to say that rigging /de-rigging my Europa is riskybusiness and I´m happy
I do it only once per year. Secondly towing my Europa I feel it´s a lot more risky than flying.
That´s because I´m not alone there on the roads. In the sky I´m mostly alone, and those few other
pilots are more or less pros. Traffic is crazy and erratic. Weather is demanding. Mooses and the hinds
wants to crash with you. They are lurking in the shadows, and when they see my car´s lights, they
want to jump just front of me. 1000 kg moose is something which I do not want too often to come
into car throught the windshield (when towing my Europa!).
But, despite of that, I selected The Friday 13th of January to be the towing day. Roads were snowy
and icy. It was dark. It was snowing. 50% of people are driving more or less drunk during Friday evenings.
Animals are moving wildly when dimming. My thick muscle is shattered into pieces by a little non-avion-accident
and I hardly can walk. Good timing? How it went? Do I still have an Europa, whick looks like an ac?
This is how it went...
I cannot and definetely do not want to rigg/derigg my Europa alone. This time I went to the EFTP
Tampere-Pirkkala with my godson, who is a very clever boy around his twenties - he is going to be a doctor.
He is multitalent, and a scary hunter owning an amount of weapons with destructive power also. Sampsa stated
all who will come too close my Europa, will get in a split second a nice button to his forehead
(welcome to Finland, here everybody can have as many guns they like - I happen to know that a nice and compact
machine gun is very practical, when flying Europa to the wild remote areas...
http://www.military-today.com/firearms/jati_matic.htm
I have to-do-list in order, how I want to rigg /de-rigg my Europa. 58 points for rigging and 51 for de-rigging.
It´s attached. Just learn some Finnish and read it (that´s easy - Europa builder Paul Mansfield learnt perfect
Finnish in two weeks, and it was easy for him because he is very talented [must be because he has got a
Gulfstream-pilot for wife]). Oh Boy!
You may ask why I did not just fly my Europa home? Our apron is just 20 metres from home hangar. However,
I cannot taxi there, and de-rigging my Europa on the farmer´s field to tow it 20 metres to the hangar is something
which is absolutely no-no for me.
Here I am. Taking a starboard side tailplane off. Uh I hate to take them off and more I hate to put them on.
So easy to destroy. So difficult to repair. Personally, I think tailplanes are the most sensitive parts of my plane.
I handle them same care as I would like to handle my premature baby if I had one. Notice white cone on the head of the
steel tube. And a FIN sticker behind that (FIN is a abbreviation of Finland, synonym for those funny thingies in the
stern of the ac and finally FIN is The End (of the plane).
BTW I have elected to weld all those pinned parts together to get some extra safety against possible flutter during
170 knots dives, which I love. This mod weighs few grams (I still have those pins also!).
[img]cid:part1.09018A94.10F3D15A(at)rwm.fi[/img]
I cannot imagine to move those tailplanes in the trailer!
I put them into purpose made aluminium box filled with softening
material and carry that box in the van inside.
[img]cid:part2.C99E51BE.6DA33812(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Here is Sampsa, my godson, attaching Europa to the trailer.
Notice the extra ramp. I secure those yellow rigging screws always
to prevent to open by itself.
[img]cid:part3.4F021DDE.37A79F04(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Almost done - only port wing to go and then ready. De-rigging take always
2 hrs by two people. When doing with my way, carefully, slowly but lustily.
We started the de-rigging 1400 local time and it was done 1600, just after
sunset, which was here 1542 (UTC 1342) at N62°.
It was devilish cold because of the heavy wind and a wind chill effect.
Notice double axle trailer. I did not want to loose my Europa during
towing when one axle collapses or one of the two tires decide to separate.
Safety first!
[img]cid:part4.597EE86D.897725EF(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Panel is on to get some fun and heat to souls. Now you maybe
get an idea why Tampere Towermen call my Europa to be a brothel?
Sometimes, during night landing, they even give me a clearance
" Brothel One, join downwind 24 and happy landing ".
[img]cid:part5.5AED3040.43A187EE(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Here we go. A huge 21 km adventure is just front of us!
I stop always every 7 km to check all is good.
Towing speed max is 60 km/h hour. I use always a security car behind me
when towing. That´s because I do not want any public people to
drive behind me, watching my Europa with his (yes - his, not her)
bulging eyes and possibly crashing right to my Airmaster nose cone.
Also, I do not want a Police happen to drive behind me. They could
notice, that my trailer is unregistered and w/o the register plates.
(I have two of them but there is only a text "Europa OH-XRT").
[img]cid:part6.7D65B43D.D311D40D(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Here we are, not a convoy to Murmansk, but a convoy home.
Refuel stop at the local Neste [liquid] Service Station in Lempäälä.
Notice, my Europa is powered and strobos are on to get some extra safety.
[img]cid:part7.55188425.705651A0(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Thumbs up! My wife and Sampsa are congratulateing me -
My Europa has survived alive the most riskiest operation as per planned.
There it is again, in the home hangar (actually a double 36 m²
car garage, which is converted to be my little and modest pilot´s cave.
It´s pathetic if compared to those All American Dream Pilot´s Caves,
but very practical for me: my office is just next door to right and
there is a direct way and door to go from office to the Europa.
Just now, when writing this, I could go and visit her in 3 seconds.
This is not a place where I built my plane - that´s a separate 80 m² building
say 50 metres to the left. Why my Europa is not there then? Life is strange;
I built it to be an Europa factory and after an Europa hangar. However
now it´s full of Flying Brewery beer (do not report here around, please!).
[img]cid:part8.5EF8F637.82B4377E(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Here she is, photographed right from the office door.
Isn´t she like an Europa in early Europa Aircraft marketing video,
when someone was dreaming about Europa?
Tight fit but just about room to make all I want.
On the left there is the shelving, where are all the tools, spare parts,
documentary and even a little museum about building time and also
some flying memories like a bottle of wine, which I got when we flew
the longist distance to the Texel Fly-in.
[img]cid:part9.A0C0C94D.C3067243(at)rwm.fi[/img]
You have maybe noticed I to some measure like my Europa.
But what happens when I´m not able anymore to fly it, or happen
to be fucken ash in my wife´s back pocket? I spent to build my
Europa +130.000€ and including my work, the worth of it is at least
300.000€, something like a new Europa Liberty XL2. For Me only.
My Europa is a new like and actually year after year always a little better.
However, I know, it´s market value is around 60.000 to 80.000€. Markets are
maybe hyper stupid but always right. So, selling it is out of the question.
I cannot give it to my wife or daughters and say "please fly".
That´s because it´s far too complex to keep on good shape by them.
I´m an only Europa expert in the country. And it´s certain way dangerous
(same reasons why Lancairs are wonderful but dangerous statistically).
Boring aircrafts, like Cessnas, tends to be safe.
Add also that Monowheel Syndrom - I have been lucky so far.
I said today to my godson Sampsa, that some day he will get it.
He said "fine, obviously I have to get PPL then". This could happen
this year, but I hope it will be at the earlist say 2037, when he needs PPL to fly his
Europa...
Sampsa did not wanted to get some money about his valuable work.
So, I gave him a bottle of Bollinger Champagne (he is like 007) and my
black BMW for weekend. I thought that were a good combination to get
some extra romance with his lovely girlfriend, Mari.
Cheers,
Raimo
Europa OH-XRT #417
Finland
--
allekirjoitus
Terveisin,
[img]cid:part10.074997E6.778504FD(at)rwm.fi[/img]
Raimo Toivio
raimo.toivio(at)rwm.fi (raimo.toivio(at)rwm.fi)
+358 40 590 1450
RWM-SYSTEMS
-älykästä informaatiotekniikkaa vuodesta 1980
FLYING BREWERY
-only beer in the world brewed to aircraft standards
[img]cid:part12.472DF047.9E6577BF(at)rwm.fi[/img]
37500 Lempäälä
FINLAND
p. 03 - 3753 777
www.rwm.fi
www.flyingbreweryfinland.fi
info(at)rwm.fi (info(at)rwm.fi)
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