My other mistress

My trusty Europa XS lined up for departure to the SW at TN89. The Europa is a popular British kitplane. Upwards of 1000 are now flying with several dozen in the USA. The Liberty is loosely based on the Europa, although the Liberty doesn't begin to compare, performance wise. Advertised as a 600 hour kit, N245E took 2250 hours over 3.5 years to complete, including paint and finish. The first flight was in July of 2006. Ordinarily, the Europa is powered by the Rotax 912, 912ULS, or 914. My Europa has a water cooled Jabiru 3300 6 cylinder installed. Smooth, quiet and powerful. If you look close you can see Mylar over the aileron hinge lines. N245E has had the full complement of racing sailplane tricks applied to her, i.e., positive seals on the rudder, ailerons and antiservo tabs, Mylar on the rudder, aileron and antiservo hinge lines, flap gap seals, and wing profiling down to .002" waviness. It'll carry two, 200 pounders and an honest 100 lbs of baggage with full fuel. It cruises at 130 kts sipping about 6 gph with a top speed over 160 kts. Approved for "gentleman's aerobatics" I can attest that is does nice aileron rolls. One of the best parts is the big 'ole Fowler flaps that allow it to slow down exceedingly well and giving it a Vso of 38 kts. The Europa is a very well designed aircraft. It's snappy, but stable. I catch myself regularly pausing after a flight and thinking "man, what a neat little airplane!"