----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 4:10
AM
Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] To pedal or
not
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Good morning all
That caused a lot of stir and hot air, but digest
this........
In 1961 when I first started to fly an Aircoupe (a
Forney F1A with pedals) I was teaching pupils to fly for their PPL. So that
they were competent pilots I had to teach them coordination of ailerons and
rudders so that they appreciated balanced flight. I have always thought that a
good pilot could be identified quite quickly by the way they dealt with
"Balanced Flight" and over many years of checking out a new pilot joining our
group from flying other types I could assess him in minutes to see whether he
had been trained properly.
I know Fred Weick designed the two control system to
deal with balanced flight and it did just that. However, I consider one could
not properly teach an ab initio pupil to fly on a two control system and then
expect him to fly correctly on a three control airplane of which ALL others he
would encounter would be, as no other manufacturer has followed the route of
two axis control that Fred did. I also know all about the search for safety
designed into the Ercoupe, the desire to shield pilots from a stall and spin
which had killed many in the past, the design was to stop the airplane
reaching the stall angle and without rudder pedals it made it impossible to
apply yaw at the point of the stall thereby making it impossible to spin. Very
good, except that when an Ercoupe pilot progressed to another type he may well
encounter these two items (reaching the stall angle and then applying yaw) I
still consider that a pilot should be taught properly to deal with these items
and you cannot teach them in a two control Ercoupe.
Then there is the problem of weight. I saw somewhere
that the rudder pedal outfit weighed around 40 lbs, As the early Ercoupes were
very much weight limited this was a consideration and still is to many owners
flying the early ones. But all things in aviation require comprimises and
until the Alon re-design came in around 1965 the Ercoupes were really a
"plaything" and not a real airplane, Alon cured this, bigger engine, better
cabin, lowered cabin sills, proper instrument panels, better baggage weight
and capacity, greater MTWA which made it just about a two seater airplane
within the weight limits. Mooney then altered everything, I owned a Cadet for
five years or so and of course with the more powerful elevator and greater
angular travel one could reach the stall angle and also kick in enough yaw to
make it spin with the larger rudder operated by pedals, no longer was it a
docile twin tailed Aircoupe, it was conventional and of course designed to be
so as a cheap trainer to introduce pilots to the larger and faster Mooney
range, I quite liked the Cadet but still prefer the Alon A2A which I now own.
I also prefer the swing axle undercarriage design to the spring steel legs my
Cadet had, in fact Mary Petet (who now owns my Cadet) found out one problem of
steel legs, one broke on her on landing as many will know, fortunately with
little damage to either 'plane or pilot. I also prefer the central brake lever
which operates on both mainwheels, I find it very effective and can't see why
anyone would want a foot brake lever or the rudder pedal brakes as fitted to
my Cadet, the central lever is excellent, but then. I trained all my pupils to
treat the brake as a "Parking Brake", if they were in a situation of having to
apply brake to stop due to a fast or badly planned landing then they should
have "gone around", training.....that's what counts.
Anyway I know I have gone on too much for Ercoupe rudder
pedal-less pilots, they are happy with two control flying and I respect that,
I just think three control is better and fits you for flying all other types,
as I said before Fred Weick is still in a majority of one as no other
manufacturer has followed that route.
We all must agree to differ and as they say
"Have a Nice Day"
Dave Vernon
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