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Jurgen,
I think Dave W. has said it well: 'Coupes are not considered "real"
airplanes by some who are used to having rudder pedals, flaps, and other
more complicated gear. Modern culture seems to favor gadgets that make it
MORE complicated to accomplish a given task, rather than less.
Additionally, it is not a fast or particularly powerful airplane, and again
the modern market seems to favor speed and performance.
There are also maintenance difficulties and increased risks in flying a
60-year-old plane. We who appreciate its vintage virtues may be in the
minority.
Having said all that, I can only agree with you: when I first saw last
summer that I could own my own airplane for less than the cost of my
Jeep...and it is a cute, comfortable, easy-to-fly airplane...wow!!!
In addition to the caution others have wisely given you about the importance
of a pre-purchase inspection, I would add another caution: if you are not
yourself a mechanic, or adept at, and enjoy, tinkering with machines, expect
to spend a lot of extra money after you buy it on mechanical repairs,
especially in (I'm told) in the first year. I DID have a good mechanic, who
had worked on Ercoupes and has a good reputation, do my pre-purchase
inspection, so this is not against him, but to give you a sense of
proportion: even though mine was a sound, corrosion-free airframe, that had
been combined with a very-low-time SMOH engine, it has been necessary to
replace (due either to conditions he found, or that he didn't) the entire
exhaust system, the brake system, wheels, tires, tubes, brake reservoir,
hoses, the altimeter, seat belts, two rear windows (my fault), upgrade to a
different oil filter system, R&R the header fuel tank, and now replacing the
radio. That's just the larger stuff I can think of off-hand; there have
also been others.
My then-CFI told me that his rule of thumb he gives students thinking about
buying a plane is to expect in the first year to spend an extra 50% above
its purchase price, considering repairs, insurance, hangar fees, and so on.
I thought he was exaggerating; he was not. I am not far from that figure in
6 months, and will probably get there by the time it has had its first
annual in May. Expect also that matters mechanical and avionic will eat up
a huge amount of your time.
Still, when one compares all those headaches to spending lots more for
either a new plane or even a more-popular different model vintage plane,
like a Cub... I'd rather have my Ercoupe. However, I am really looking
forward to getting past this first year and getting to go back to spending
more of my energies flying and learning to be a better pilot, instead of
struggling with mechanical & electronic issues.
I hope this additional perspective from a fairly new Ercoupe owner is
helpful, and that you will feel as welcomed by the wonderful online
community of 'Coupe owners as I have.
Linda
Ercoupe 415-C, N3437H ("Sky Sprite")
Los Angeles
---------------------
From: "David Douglas Winters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 'Jürgen P.' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[email protected]>
Reply-To: "David Douglas Winters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Coupes in the used aircraft market
Sir
I have done some international heavy shipping and I do believe you are
correct. You could ship a coupe to Europe quite reasonably and still buy a
coupe here at a vast savings over planes such as a piper cub. (The wings
remove easily for shipping.)
$18,000 is not a price so low as to provide cause for suspicion. I have
seen flying Coupes bought for less than $15K. I know one that went for less
than $$12K. (Couldnt resist that one. Bought it myself.)
You asked why so inexpensive. In my opinion (for what it is worth, which
may not be much): A Coupe is less expensive BECAUSE OF ITS ADVANTAGES.
Sounds weird, but many pilots do not consider it a real airplane because
it wont stall, needs no crosswind technique, and can even operate without
rudder pedals (sacrilege!)
I hate to lose any Ercoupes from our national pool, but, having brought home
things like old European mail boxes, phone booths and other culturally
irreplaceable stuff, I guess it is only fair that we let some of our best
flow to you all.
HOWEVER, like the other guys said, get a really good pre-buy inspection by
an Ercoupe expert. Otherwise, the expenses may grow, considerably. And, if
you buy a Coupe, buy all the appropriate maintenance manuals, too
and make
sure your maintenance man reads and uses them. Much about coupe maintenance
is NOT intuitive. Nor is it like all other aircraft.
Once you own a Coupe, you may, someday, upgrade, but you will never trade
up. As a rule of thumb, guys who buy Coupes dont sell them. They just
cannot bear to let them go.
Best wishes on your endeavor,
Dave W
-----Original Message-----
From: Jürgen P. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 7:30 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Coupes in the used aircraft market
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advice in this forum.]----
All,
I am new to this group. I live in Germany and am a novice pilot, having
trained on C150's mostly and some on C172's.
I am a big fan of vintage aircraft and have recently by coincidence come
across the Forney Ercoupe/ Alon Aircoupe. I must say it seems very easy to
get infatuated by this beauty and from the engineering angle, I think the
Coupes are definitely covering is an amazing piece of aviation history, too.
I am actually wondering why the production of the Coupe did not totally
outnumber its main competitors. Who would want to fly a Cessna 150 when you
can fly a Coupe? Based on that thought, I have browsed ads for Coupes in
"globalplanesearch.com" and was surprised about the price levels of most of
the offers. Can anybody tell me why it is that I can apparently buy a coupe
at half or about a third of the price of a Piper Cub made around the same
time?
E.g. this one, where the asking price is $ 18,000.--
http://www.ipilot.com/classifieds/display.aspx?pid=9992
I am wondering whether something must be "wrong" with it, or whether I have
just not looked for the right things so far.
I will have to check about how tedious or expensive it would be to buy an
N-registered Coupe in the U.S., bring it here and have it German-registered.
To my knowledge, only 11 Coupes are flying in Germany today. The thought to
complete the dozen tickles me!
Grateful for your feedback!
Regards from overseas
Juergen
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