58 TIAS? According to my FAA approved airplane flight manual, that's the stall speed of the Coupe. Now, if you've been following past discussion, you'll know that a Coupe don't stall. So, 58 TIAS? That's fall out of the sky speed. You say you climb out at that speed? I say you fall out of the sky. It's a good thing you didn't get together with the beautiful young woman. It wouldn't have worked. She obviously had more brains than you had. I cut my teeth flying the mountains in the west. Unless I'm headed for a cliff, or tree, I'll take best rate over best angle any day.
Larry [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I believe the number is 58 Mph and no it's not for the first ten feet its all > the way to however high it takes to clear the obstacle. Those of us blessed > with mountain flying know this especially when the temperatures here in the > West often exceed 110. The best rate as I recall is 68, to climb the most in > a given time. > > I once met a beautiful gal, also a coupe owner, who I wish was part of my > life but I destroyed that possibility when forced to threaten to smash her > pretty face in, when she almost killed us in "the coupe" at Truckee-Tahoe > airport some years ago. No, I'm not a violent guy but she left me no choice > when she kept grabbing the yoke and pushing forward. I had asked if she had > ever done any mountain flying and she said yes, well mountains to her meant > 2,500 feet in the Connecticut/Vermont area. > > I had flown in from Redding and had plenty of fuel to make the short hop to > Santa Rosa to drop her off. I hadn't seen her in some time and had even > brought flowers. > > What came after the takeoff can best be described as sheer terror on my part. > I have flown off much shorter strips on hotter days with much heavier loads > (she probably only weighs 120 at most). I had told her specifically that we > would be climbing out at best angle of climb and to enjoy the scenery. The > runway is 6-7000 feet and we lifted off OK and were climbing OK, which means > about 100 FPM at 60 MPH. She jammed the yoke forward at about 50 feet in the > air and we lost all of that and crossed the airport boundary at perhaps 7 > feet, headed west. I glared at her and of course pulled it back to climb. I > nursed it back to maybe 200 feet when she again pushed the nose over and I > swatted her hand and again began to climb. She pushed again and that's when > I doubled up my fist and shook it very close to her face in a very menacing > manner. We lost all the altitude I had managed to gain and literally flew > through the main street of town and turned around a point of the fountain at > the end of the dead-end street as I recall. She, the coupe owner stabilized, > and didn't speak to me again. We re-crossed the airport at 500 AGL and then > headed west for an otherwise uneventful flight. I won the battle against > death but lost the fair lady in so doing. Damn, she is so beautiful too. > > Yes, you may easily fly the coupe with a properly calibrated airspeed at 60 > quite safely despite what some may think. I have a friend whose total runway > was 900 feet and he's made over 2500 night landings there in his Ercoupe 180. > He has a 3-light radio-activated laser beam to follow. He does keep all 3 > struts over extended. Me I fly off the first 4-500 feet quite well and enjoy > the precise power-on patterns you must fly to do it well. If you want to fly > in the West you better learn to fly at 60 MPH
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