I knew I wanted an airplane of my own. You will fly a lot more if you own it and it is inexpensive to buy and fly. I wanted a safe airplane by design. Therefore I eliminated all the airplanes that can bite you. These would be the Luscomb in which one can get into an inadvertent spin if not careful and are careless which can be tragic on approach, and the rest of the taildraggers (which can groundloop and thus be Expensive and are less forgiving). I kept coming back to the Ercoupe. Stall resistant. Spin Proof (you cannot cross control it). Tri gear which means EASY to land (even though it is landed a little different in a cross wind that a 3 control airplane, still EASY(ist) TO LAND, thus safe. Even though it was designed in the early 40's, it is modern; period. It is economical to buy and to fly. You asked "how do you learn to fly one?" Easiest transition I ever made in my life. In fact, I don't recommend this but, I had no formal checkout in mine. The man who delivered it to me, a commercial pilot and mechanic, went around with me for a few circuits and briefed me and that was it. Of course, I've had biannuals in it since. Join EOC, there are lots of ads. Get Trade-a-Plane (I bought mine out of TAP. Get fabric wings. They are lighter and when you recover every decade or so, you can REALLY inspect the wings. Get an A&P to help you determine the condition and if all A/D's have been complied with. Make a reasonable offer and try to get the best possible deal. I like fabric wings, 75 or 85 hp with correct prop. 0-200 conversions are not desirable in my opinion as it modifies the airplane, causes problems because systems are changed and perceived improvements are just that, perceived and not real. An Ercoupe that came with a C-90 is good also. Much much more. But if you make rational choice after investigating and comparing all the types of little planes you could buy, you will keep coming back to the Ercoupe as I did. Sam Walton, in his book, says he used airplanes to start his business. His first airplane was an Ercoupe that he used to travel to different cites to put Wal-marts in. He had many airplanes but it started with an Ercoupe.
Grover N99398 Ercoupe 415-C Columbus, GA On Sat, 27 Feb 1999 18:29:21 -0500 "L.A. Holbrook" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >Hello, > >I'm about to be a new pilot (my instructor says March! -- all that's >left is my practical exam), and during my training I discovered my >first >Coupe at Worcester, MA. I've never been the same -- the little bird >just got in my bones, somehow. I'd never seen one before, didn't know >a >darn thing about them, but after that first meeting I've read >everything >I could lay my hands on about them, and the addiction is only getting >worse. > >Anyway, it'll be a bit before I'm ready to buy, but in the meantime >I'd >like to learn everything I can about Coupes, and I'd love to hear how >other folks got started. How did you learn to fly one? Where did you >find yours? What do I need to watch out for when looking to buy? > >If you'd prefer not to mail your tale to the whole list, you can >contact >me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks in advance for the info. > >Regards, > >Leslie Holbrook > > ________________________________________________________________ Get secure free e-mail that you don't need Web access to use from Juno, the world's second largest online service. Download your free software at http://www.juno.com/getit.b.html.
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