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At 01:45 PM 4/6/01 -0400, Paul Tanzar wrote: >----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any >advice in this forum.]---- > >I respect the issues Glen raised in his rebuttal, but >I believe that, overall, Fred Weick succeeded in his >objectives. Consider this: while, other than lack of rudder pedals, the Ercoupe looks fairly conventional today, it was a RADICAL departure from the general run of GA aircraft in 1939. This was, after all, just 36 years after the Wright Brothers. This was when the Piper Cub was revolutionizing flight training by providing an airplane that only had one wing and lacked a radial engine. If the 'Coupe was being developed today, the Wrights would have flown at Kitty Hawk in 1965. What is remarkable about the Ercoupe is that current aircraft look a lot more like it than it looks like a J2 or J3 Cub. >As was already pointed out, Fred was >designing-out the landing cross-controlled stall/spin >rather than spins at altitude. To this day, in modern, >docile, stall-resistant airplanes, pilots of all skill >levels continue to stall-spin on the base to final >turn. Everyone knows what not to do, but it happens >anyway. It's still one of the leading accident causes. What Cessna designed out with the 172 was the hard landing caused by too little airspeed. That was something Fred's team didn't really design in, but it crept in, particularly with the 415D model. If Erco had survived, I fully expect that that issue would have been recognized and sorted out eventually. > Even modern bush >plane designs (Cessna's Caravan and 206) are nose >wheel. The reasons are simple: fewer ground-handling >mishaps. Paul, I don't think this has stood the test of time as of yet. Yes, bush operators are bringing the nosedraggers in, partially due to a lack of tailwheel planes, and partially due to a lack of tailwheel pilots. But I say 'bringing,' and I don't think that there is enough history yet to prove that cases of collapsed nosewheels and/or bent firewalls aren't going to become as common as ground-loops. Let's face it... ...a nose wheel is one great big toe to stub, and anyone who has walked barefoot around their camp-site knows that you're likely to stub your toe eventually. On grass, snow, or ice, the taildragger is a lot more tame... ...but on an unimproved strip there is also a lot more junk to catch a wheel and start you coming around (or tear off the nosewheel if you have one). You gain on the swings as well as on the roundabouts. > I have >nothing to prove to anyone. I just don't need the >aggravation. I think this was one of my 'Coupe motivators, along with the open cockpit. If I want to go flying after a tough day at work, I don't want to have to ask myself 'am I up to keeping her straight down the runway today?' The consequence when I'm a bit off my game is a *thump* of a landing or a little moment of *gulp* when I don't dump the lift and the upwind wing rises. Not a ground loop. When I'm ON my game and I fly it fly it fly it all the way to a stop, things are lovely. > You still have to be careful and know the >'coupe's limitations and shortcomings, but staying out >of trouble in a 'coupe is a bit easier than with other >planes. That suits me just fine, and I think that's >all Fred was hoping for. Agreed. I don't (as someone else here mentioned) do a steep turn to final just to lose altitude. Though my turns to final *will* go to 45 degrees if they need to and I'm at 85MPH. No, I'll play with the sink in level flight, and solve the altitude problem, if any, by mushing a bit to the glide slope EARLY on, and being willing to dispose of an extra 5MPH by using some extra runway. I mean, it's not supposed to stall/spin, but why find out that I'm out of rig by doing so? Finally, as regards detractors. For every jerk that has to say 'Oh! A Scare-Coupe,' (and usually admits that he's never flown *in* one, much less flown one) there are two who says 'man those are such neat airplanes' and 'I remember some good times in those...' Greg __________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01 ==^================================================================
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