RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN]

[dr . beeman]

If you land an Ercoupe on the mains in a crosswind and wait "...until the coupe itself swivels straight down the runway..." please tell me specifically what force will cause the aircraft to "swivel straight down the runway"?

The answer is there is no magical force available to an Ercoupe or a spam can for that matter. A spam can uses rudder to counteract the crab just before touchdown, but a rudderless Ercoupe must use the runway itself to counteract the crab, for if the Ercoupe pilot tries to take out the crab before touching down, he'll simply fly away from the centerline.

The only counterforce to a crosswind crab that a rudderless model of the Ercoupe possesses is the force exerted through the nose wheel touching and counteracting the cocked main gear. This is what the POH calls for and this is all there is. There is no automatic swivel straight down the runway and if you wait for it before planting your nose wheel you'll be cutting daisies.

Dr. R. Beeman

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Burkhead <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Oct 15, 2006 10:58 PM
To: Cflyin
Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN]

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Good comments, yourself, Harry.

 

I’ll take mild exception to this paragraph Harry wrote:

> To successfully land a coupe you must keep the nose

> wheel off the ground until the coupe itself swivvles straight

> down the runway, THEN LOWER THE NOSE, AND LOSE

> LIFT......RESULTING IN LITTLE IF ANY SIDE STRESSES

> ON THE NOSE GEAR AND ENGINE MOUNT ( NOSE

> GEAR IS ATTACHED TO ENGINE MOUNT).

 

I would revise it to say:

For an ideal landing in a Coupe, you must keep the nose

wheel off the ground until the Coupe itself swivels straight

down the runway, THEN LOWER THE NOSE, AND LOSE

LIFT......RESULTING IN LITTLE IF ANY SIDE STRESSES

ON THE NOSE GEAR AND ENGINE MOUNT ( NOSE

GEAR IS ATTACHED TO ENGINE MOUNT).

 

 

We all know of gobs of successful Coupe landings in which the nose gear DID touch before the aircraft turned to line up with the direction of travel.

 

A minor quibble.  Harry’s right about his described landing being the right way to do things, if you can.

 

Ed Burkhead

http://edburkhead.com

ed -at- edburkhead???.com          (change -at- to @ and remove "???")

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