You sir have a closed mind. Crossing the sierra at 16,000' and descending into Bishop with the engine out for the last 50 miles is fun, builds skills and saves gas. The Europa can be registered as a motor glider, if you use the longer wings. When it comes to shutting down the engine to soar the wave or just to save gas there is no real difference in risk.MovingOn wrote:Shutting down an engine while flying a single engine airplane is poor judgement and stupid.
Stupid says you, flying hundreds of miles without fuel has real merit in my mind.
I just looked, the Europa is registered as a glider but it has a bigger motor than my CT and doesn't glide as well with the short wings. Since it is a glider it seems pretty reasonable to fly it engine out but the truth is, with the short wings, 914, higher stall and mono gear it is far more risky to dead stick.