----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
Scott:
***Disclaimer - These observations and techniques are what worked for me
in my particular Ercoupe - Your results may
be different ***
Question #1. I had a 415G and it took me a while to figure
out a good landing technique. You will hear many techniques from the
Cessna/Piper crowd that just won't work for this airplane. What I
determined from testing various techniques is that as you slow up, the sink
develops rapidly and exponentially in the Ercoupe. I would definitely NOT
pull the power off 500' from the runway unless you had a lot of extra speed to
bleed off. Here is my technique from start to finish. I focus on
power settings and rate of descent more than the airspeed
indicator.
Downwind: Do your landing checks and set whatever power setting
keeps you in level flight with full nose up trim. For my O-200 bird it
was about 2100rpm. You should be level at about
75mph.
Turning Base: Bring back power to initiate a 500fpm descent
rate. In my bird it was usually 1500-1600rpm depending on
conditions. Keep your nose down below the horizon. Speed will still
be about 75mph.
Turning Final: Keep that power setting in. Adjust
power as necessary to correct for too high or low. If you bring the power
back to descend quicker, bring it back in when you are on the proper
glidepath. I would always aim for the numbers.
Flare
to touchdown: The bottom line with the Ercoupe is that you start your
flare lower than you do with a Cessna or Piper. Ground effect wants to
flatten you out too high in the Ercoupe. I found that I had
to consciously "power through" ground effect and keep the nose down to
avoid flaring too high. You will feel ground effect as a tendency to
lift your nose and flatten out your glide path. Left to its own
devices, the Coupe naturally does this about 15 feet off the runway.
That is too high!! What happens up there is you slow up, sink, and
run out of elevator to fix it. KAPLUNK you go onto the runway.
What I found as the key to nice landings was this: You keep the
power in and the nose down as you enter ground effect. Think
of ground effect as a bubble that wants to keep you too high off the
runway. Once you've burst the bubble, (penetrated ground effect) then you
SLOWLY pull the power off as you bring the yoke back. You trade
one for the other. Concentrate on the end of the runway and size up your
rate of sink, adjust power as necessary and if you do it right, the
throttle hits the stop as the nose is coming up and your main wheels
chirp.
If you
find yourself dropping in from too high there is only one thing that can
save you - POWER.
Question #2. There are various adjustments to rigging and my plane
was not right for many months. Try this, when you are "Straight
and Level", look out and compare the wingtip positions relative to the
horizon. In my bird, one was at a different position relative to the
horizon than the other and the ball was about 1/2 displaced to the right.
The plane was flying in a constant slip/skid. Mine had rudder pedals
and when I centered the ball with rudder, the wings would level out and I'd
pick up some knots in GPS groundspeed -something was definitely
wrong. To fix the displaced ball, there is an adjustment to the
rudders at the outboard underside of the elevator. There is a little round
panel that you remove. Mine needed quite a bit of right rudder
dialed in to fix things. I did test flights as my mechanic added
right rudder until the ball would stay centered. We also had to level
out the ailerons. I noticed also that it climbed out a bit better,
glided better and was more stable on takeoff. If you are flying in a
constant slip, you are adding a lot of drag which only compounds the
sinking tendency of this airplane.
Question #3. As for gliding, I went out with a CFI and
we tried gliding at different airspeeds, 60mph, 65mph 70mph etc... and
compared the rates of descent. You eventually find the best speed for
gliding in your particular aircraft. As for emergency landings, I
would practice these in the pattern. Once you are familiar with how the
Ercoupe behaves in ground effect and when it is slow (sinking), try to pull off
the power to idle and glide it onto the runway. I noticed I had to
consciously keep the nose down and some extra speed on the airplane
to keep from coming up short, flaring too high and dropping
in.
Hope
this helps
Tim
(Former 415G owner)
Bellanca 14-13-2
Cruisair Senior
-----Original Message-----
From: scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 10:51 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] New Ercoupe owner questions----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----Hello Fellow Ercoupe owners -I am a new owner of a 1947 415E. I am also learning to fly(so if I use wrong terminology,bear with me)I was hoping a few of you might take the time to help me with some questions I have re: the 'coupe.Q-1What is the best landing technique? We have a 800 FPM sink rate on final aproach and not much time for a flareor a mistake. Power is 1500 rpm on approach and at idle from ~ 500 feet from the run way @ ?? ft altitude.The nose is down and we try and maintain about 70 mph.The thing sinks like a rock! What are we doing wrong? (see Q-2)Q-2 During level flight, the The cordinated turn indicator never rcompletely centers..could this be the riggingand also compound the landing problem...ie. slipping during approach?Q-3 What is the glide ratio of this aircraft? How well does this aircraft do in an emergancy situation (pilot skill aside)?Thanks for your helpScott============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
