For Builders

Europa Club Modifications – Risks and Responsibilities

Whilst owners can modify their own aircraft within the constraints of their aviation rules  and regulations for their country, only Europa Aircraft have the authority to issue Factory Modifications.  These are all well documented in their online literature – which the Club recommends to use as a source.  It is important to recognise that the Europa Club does not generate new Modifications from scratch, it only assists where it can with raising the status of an existing Modification to ‘Standard MOD’ status in the UK and relies on open and full disclosure of all necessary information from owners to provide that assistance.  In every case, the Liability for the correct selection, implementation and independent signoff of any such modifications adopted, still rests entirely with the owner/operator of the aircraft it is applied to and the Europa Club accepts no liability whatsoever for the actions of individual aircraft owners.“The Europa Club’s activities in the area of Modifications is limited to 1) the publication of known approved modifications on the website and 2) assistance to progress ‘popular’ () UK-generated LAA listed ‘Repeat’ status modifications to ‘Europa Standard Modification’ [SM . . .] status, under the auspices of UK LAA Engineering.  Owners operating under registrations other than G-Reg will need to ascertain the requirements and limitations of the civil Aviation authorities applicable in their own Country, and progress the modifications to their own aircraft, through those routes.”What is a Europa? Well it is an aircraft which you have built and cleared with the appropriate regulatory authority. It is based on a kit of parts manufactured by Europa Aircraft but there are many differences in individual aircraft based on the owners requirements and bank balance. You must also be aware of which model you have Classic or XS. The bureaucrat’s view of the world is that all you need to do is buy the kit and follow the Combined Build Manuals (CBM) provided to create a “standard” Europa. “Standard” is defined by : TADS T.A.D.S. document controlled by the LAA (EUROPA or EUROPA XS).

On the LAA website TADS

This is an essential reference document always recheck on the LAA website that you are looking at the latest TADs

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We also have to pay attention to various mandatory requirements placed on us by the regulators (MPDs and AILs) and the Europa Factory service bulletins (SBs). Even with the explanations we have tried to provide (see Europa Mods and SBs) finding your way through all this is more than a little daunting. And do not forget that some information never made it to the CBM and is only available in the Tech-Talk section of the Factory news lettters.

In the real world you will have made the basic choice (mono, Trigear) but you will be presented with a list of options (speed kit, Hi-Top etc) which are available as factory Mods. There are also modifications, developed by builders, fully documented and approved by the LAA which you might want to consider LAA Standard Mods. Lastly there are many additional mods, less well documented and involving a little more paperwork, which you might decide would improve your aircraft (Useful Mods).

After that the sky really is the limit in terms of what somebody has and you could do to you kit aircraft. We cover this with sections organised under the various logical parts of the aircraft and attempts to give you as much information as possible about what others have done while building their aircraft. Under each heading you will also find links to the appropriate mods and bureaucratic bits that are applicable.

Classic or XS
Europa Aircraft Type and Kit Number: To build the complete aircraft the builder would be purchasing four kits. The “A” kit consisted of the foam tailplanes, rudder, flaps, and ailerons. The “B” was the wings and the “C” kit the fuselage. To complete the aircraft the “Firewall forward” kit consisted of the engine, cowls and associated controls.Aircraft up to kit number 355 (roughly) are called the “Classic” version. They had a wide centre tunnel, wings constructed over blue foam cores ( .5 washout), a foam core fin and a short baggage bay. The engine location was lower (than on the XS) and the radiators were mounted just behind the prop (not underneath). The short engine cowl was supplied with the fuselage kit.
In 1997 the XS was launched with moulded (not foam) wings, moulded fin, longer foot wells and the extended baggage bay. The wings are slightly longer and have .5 of washout but are interchangeable with the earlier wings. The engine was moved forward and up and the radiators relocated below in a new longer engine cowl. The cowl became part of the “Firewall Forward” kit. The kit numbers were allocated when the builder bought the first kit. So the Number (say 124) would, at first sight, make it a Classic kit. If only the “A” kit was purchased (foam tailplanes, rudder, flaps, and ailerons). These components were identical for the Classic and XS and were still in use up to 2010. If the original builder then bought the “B” and “C” kits later than November 1997 the components would be XS components, making the airplane fully an XS, but the factory would not change the kit number. The aircraft would probably be recorded in LAA records as a Classic, which it was when the LAA project number was allocated. Just to confuse further you can have a Classic (foam wings, short footwells) which was fitted with an XS firewall forward as that was available when the builder came to order. LAA records would show this as a “Classic” but Club records may show it as XS.