[COUPERS-FLYIN] 99891 at her new home

[Bob Branch]

Ercoupe 99891 made her flight from her restoration home at DeFord field in Indiana to her new home at Marine City Michigan today. I felt somewhat guilty taking one of Francis DeFord's childred away from him, but there are still 6 other flying ercoupes in the hanger at DeFord and I know he has one in Florida, maybe two. Don't know if there are alot of Ercoupes out there with 845 hr total time since new. Probably not alot of planes with 845 tt that have been rebuilt frrom the ground up, but that is the way Francis does things. If you are his way, the wind sock at DeFord is a yellow ercoupe... the real thing!  And seeing so many Coupes in one hanger is a treat as well.   My friend Tom Wissing and I made the trip down in his C150 and since I have no radios yet, we flew back as a flight of two to transit the Detroit class B airspace. The folks at Detroit were super. Tom called this morning and made the  request and they were happy to help us through. In fact they arranged flight following for us both ways. That's going way out of your way to be accomodating and it always makes me feel good when I see folks in aviation just try to help another aviation guy out.   I did find trying to put a gps on an Ercoupe yoke is an excercise in futility. I did get my Lowrance 1000 mounted with the RAM mount. Only problem was it was too close to my nose to see it, even with the trifocals on. An I don't have the extended baggage so I the seat back is a little bit further back. Maybe the radio shop can figure a way to put it in the glove box area ahead of the yoke.   I look forward to seeing some of you at the Jackson fly in on the 20th.   bob branch 99891