Europa XS
Encyclopedia
The Europa XS and Europa Classic are a family of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composite
Composite material
Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
two-place low-wing monoplane
Monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
s, manufactured by Europa Aircraft
Europa Aircraft
Europa Aircraft is a British kitplane manufacturer that produces the Europa XS.The company was established to produce a small kit-built low-wing aircraft for personal use within Europe, with these design goals: high speed, low cost, able to be built and stored at home, easily transportable, using...
and supplied as kits for amateur construction
Homebuilt aircraft
Also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, homebuilt aircraft are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch," from plans, or from assembly kits.-Overview:...
. More than 450 Europas have been completed.
Europas are flown in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the very light aircraft
EASA CS-VLA
EASA CS-VLA is the European Aviation Safety Agency Certification Specification for Very Light Aircraft.The Very Light Aircraft or VLA aircraft certification category introduced in 2003 by the EASA is intended to make it easier and less costly to get full European certification of a general aviation...
category. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the Europa XS is currently awaiting light-sport aircraft
Light-sport Aircraft
A Light-sport aircraft, also known as light sport aircraft or LSA, is a small aircraft that is simple to fly and which meets certain regulations set by a National aviation authority restricting weight and performance...
certification and as of August 2011 was not listed as a factory-built Special LSA.
Development
Ivan Shaw's design work on the Europa, as it was initially named, began in January 1990. The first prototype, G-YURO, first flew on 12 September 1992 and Popular Flying AssociationPopular Flying Association
The Light Aircraft Association is the representative body in the United Kingdom for amateur aircraft construction, recreational and sport flying...
certification was gained in May 1993. Most Europas have been sold in kit form, although five factory-assembled aircraft were produced between 1994 and 1996. The first kit-built aircraft to be completed flew on 14 October 1995. By the autumn of 2007 450 Europas of all types had been completed and were flying.
The basic design was later developed by Ivan Shaw into a US FAR
Federal Aviation Regulations
The Federal Aviation Regulations, or FARs, are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs are part of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations...
certified
Type certificate
A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...
aircraft, built by Liberty Aerospace
Liberty Aerospace
Liberty Aerospace is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft based in Melbourne, Florida.The company produces one model, the Liberty XL2, an advanced two-seat touring aircraft based on the British-designed Europa homebuilt airplane...
in the USA as the Liberty XL2
Liberty XL2
The Liberty XL2 is a two-seat, low-wing, general aviation aircraft manufactured by Liberty Aerospace of Melbourne, Florida for the personal transportation, touring and flight training roles.-Development:...
.
The Europa is classified as a homebuilt in its home country of the UK
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and qualifies for a Permit to Fly. This limits it to day and VFR flight
Visual flight rules
Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...
. Previous restrictions of flying over built up areas were removed during 2008. In Canada the Europa is an amateur-built aircraft and qualifies for a Special Certificate of Airworthiness.
In 1997 UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
launched the Millennium Products competition to promote British industry in the 21st Century. This culminated in 1999 with a winners list of 1012 manufacturers and their products. One of these was the Europa XS, described as "A light aircraft which offers speed, economy and performance and can be stored on a trailer in your garage."
Design
The streamlined composite design and the unusually low canopy give the Europa both high cruise speeds (up to 200 mph (322 km/h)) and high fuel efficiency (up to 50 mpg or 5.6 l per 100 km) due to the decreased drag.The Europa can be fitted with Rotax
Rotax
BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co KG , commonly known simply as Rotax, is an Austrian engine manufacturer. It develops and produces four-stroke and advanced two-stroke engines for Bombardier Recreational Products products as well as for motorcycles, karts,...
912UL of 80 horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
, the 100 hp 912ULS or the turbocharged 115 hp 914UL engine. Other engines have been successfully installed and flown, including Subaru
Subaru
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...
auto-conversions (for example the NSI propulsion EA 81/100) , Jabiru Aircraft
Jabiru Aircraft
Jabiru Aircraft Pty Ltd is an Australian aircraft manufacturer that produces a range of kit- and ready-built civil light aircraft in Bundaberg, Queensland. The company also designs and manufactures a range of light aircraft engines...
engines, and the Wilksch WAM aircraft diesel engine
Aircraft diesel engine
The aircraft diesel engine or aero diesel has not been widely used as an aircraft engine. Diesel engines were used in airships and were tried in aircraft in the late 1920s and 1930s, but never "caught on" in a major fashion...
. Having used twin Norton engines in his "Twin Eze", Ivan Shaw had intended to specify the derivative MidWest AE series
MidWest AE series
| -See also:-External links:*...
wankel engine as an option on the Europa Classic, but carburation issues led Shaw to drop this plan.
Europas can be fitted with either normal (tourer) wings made out of fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
with 102 sq ft (9.5 m²) wing area and 13.43 lb/ft2 wing loading at MTOW
Maximum Take-Off Weight
The Maximum Takeoff Weight or Maximum Takeoff Mass of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot of the aircraft is allowed to attempt to take off, due to structural or other limits. The analogous term for rockets is Gross Lift-Off Mass, or GLOW...
or motorglider
Motor glider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: A fixed wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion ,...
wings, made from carbon fiber
Carbon fiber
Carbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber, carbon graphite or CF, is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber...
with a greater span. Since the fuselage is common to both motorglider and tourer then with both sets of wings the same fuselage can be configured as a tourer and a motorglider alternately. The wings can be removed for transportation or storage in five minutes.
The Europa touring wing uses a unique Dykins 12% thickness/chord ratio airfoil
Airfoil
An airfoil or aerofoil is the shape of a wing or blade or sail as seen in cross-section....
designed by Donald H. Dykins, who had been deputy Chief Aerodynamicist at Hawker Siddeley Aviation, and later technical director of British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
and chief aerodynamicist on the European Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
.
The motorglider wing uses a different wing section, also designed by Dykins, with its center of pressure
Center of pressure
The center of pressure is the point on a body where the total sum of a pressure field acts, causing a force and no moment about that point. The total force vector acting at the center of pressure is the value of the integrated vectorial pressure field. The resultant force and center of pressure...
coincident with that of the smaller wing to ensure that the rudder and tailplane are equally effective with either. Wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is increased to 42 feet (12.8 m) bringing the wing area to 135 sq ft (12.5 m²). The motorglider wings are fitted with airbrakes
Air brake (aircraft)
In aeronautics, air brakes or speedbrakes are a type of flight control surface used on an aircraft to increase drag or increase the angle of approach during landing....
rather than flaps
Flap (aircraft)
Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...
.
Development is also underway for wings suitable for a light-sport aircraft
Light-sport Aircraft
A Light-sport aircraft, also known as light sport aircraft or LSA, is a small aircraft that is simple to fly and which meets certain regulations set by a National aviation authority restricting weight and performance...
variant of Europa XS.
Europas are available with either a tricycle undercarriage or monowheel landing gear with a tailwheel and outriggers that are lowered with the flaps. The latter configuration has weight and performance advantages over the trigear version but can be prone to groundlooping in inexperienced hands, partly due to the lack of differential braking.
The fuel tanks are located in the fuselage and have a capacity of 18 US gallons standard and 28 US gallons optional. This gives a range of 841 sm standard or 1256 sm extended at economy cruise setting. The plane can use AVGAS
Avgas
Avgas is an aviation fuel used to power piston-engine aircraft. Avgas is distinguished from mogas , which is the everyday gasoline used in cars and some non-commercial light aircraft...
or MOGAS
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
depending on engine requirements and national regulations. It is also possible to upgrade fuel capacity with the addition of extra fuel tanks.
Variants
Europa Classic- At the time it was produced the first variant was simply called "Europa". This version is now referred to as the Classic and kits for it are no longer in production.
Europa XS
- Introduced in 1997, the Europa XS is available in two models – the Europa XS Monowheel and the Europa XS Trigear. The XS incorporates many incremental improvements over the Classic, including preformed hollow wings, a more streamlined cowling, extended tailwheel, enlarged baggage bay and a better balanced spinner. These developments meant that Europa XS still fulfils the original design objectives, but now offers extra speed, range, baggage space and comfort. It was also designed to reduce the build-time and simplify building.
Europa Motorglider
- Introduced in 1997. Long span glider wings can be interchanged with the wings on the Europa XS Monowheel and Trigear.
Europa LSA
- The Europa Light Sports Aircraft has a new carbon fibre wing incorporating a leading edge slot. The result is a wing weight reduction of 30%. It reduces the maximum take off weight to 600 kg (1,320 lb) with a slightly increased payload. A concept version appeared at Sun n Fun In May 2010. and the LSA was launched in the US at Sun n Fun April 2011
Accidents
On 1 June 2007 a Europa Classic, registration G-HOFC, broke up during a flight over South Wales, United Kingdom, killing both occupants. The investigation indicated irregularities in the construction of the right wing attachment at the rear lift/drag pin. There was also evidence of movement of the tailplane surfaces beyond the normal range of movement.As a result of the initial findings, the Light Aircraft Association released two Airworthiness Bulletins requiring immediate and repetitive inspections:
- PFA 247/FSB006 ‘Europa Classic and Europa XS Tailplane Flutter Avoidance and Integrity Of Tailplane Attachment’
- PFA 247/FSB007 ‘Europa Classic Integrity of Wing Attachment’.
The content of these Airworthiness Bulletins was made mandatory in the UK by the issue of Mandatory Permit Directives. The final accident report concludes that these modifications and the mandated inspections of aircraft already completed, adequately address the construction issue. This accident only affects older Europa Classic aircraft, all of which should have now been modified and not the XS model which has a different structure.
Aircraft on display
- Yorkshire Air MuseumYorkshire Air MuseumThe Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial, , is an air museum in England. The museum was founded, and first opened to the public, in the early 1980s....
- prototype Europa G-YURO, painted in its Millennium Product colours.