I agree, the take off is much more work than the landing in a strong crosswind. The ercoupe is no good on ice. You can't keep it strait with the nose wheel on ice. If it starts to go of center you have no rudder to bring it back and the nose wheel will slid. I almost lost one that way. I had a champ on skis and it was ok on ice but you have rudder to keep it centered. I had skis for the ercoupes but I sold them. I was afraid the nose ski would be to hard on the controls if you turned and you might hit the prop if it came up to high (Like if the cable broke). The aircoupe is good on snow with out skis anyway. I landed on a mountain pipe line airstrip west of Albquerque, NM 5000' paved at 5900' elevation just ahead of a snow storm. There were no buildings on the airstrip when but I saw a office trailer about a half mile away so I walked there. It got dark and started to snow about one hour after I landed. There was a Indian in the trailer who worked for the pipe line. I told him I had to put down because the snow and spend the night. He said I could sleep on the couch. I knew it was to cold to start the plane in the morning if I just left it so I got up every hour and half, walked the half mi in the light snow and start the plane, let it run for 10 min., (to keep the oil thin). Walk back to the trailer try to sleep (light sleep). I did this over & over till morning. It was a cold clear morning. It only snowed about 3''. I brushed the snow off the wings, and thought, I have less then half fuel, I'm by myself, Its about 5 degrees out here I'm going to try and take off. If I don't get speed fast enough by half way I'll abort and try to get someone with a plow to make a path. That would not have been a easy task. I'm in the middle of nowhere low on money coming back from Vegas!!! I took off. The Alon got us off in about 4000'. We had breakfast in Albquerque. I bought this plane in 1979. I put over 2500 hours on this one. I will have this plane till I die. With memories like these I could never sell it. gene
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