Airslot4158, We have seen a lot of old aircraft airspeed indicators showing pretty big errors.
Before your next flight, you might find benefit in reading through this web page about Coupe airspeed indicators: http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe/airspeed_indicator_errors.htm And visit the web page linked at the bottom of that article which helps you calibrate your airspeed indicator. Note what data you need to acquire. On your next flight, collect the data, go back to the website and it'll analyze it for you and give you the results: http://www.reacomp.com/true_airspeed/index.html Carl, after you get flying, you should do this also. Ed > -----Original Message----- > From: ercoupe-tech@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ercoupe-t...@yahoogroups.com] On > Behalf Of airslot4518 > Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:51 PM > To: ercoupe-tech@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [ercoupe-tech] newie > > Carl > > I am kind of in the same boat as you have a couple of thousand hrs but > new to the coupe-bought mine last June- a good airplane which I find > has some issues not the least of which is it is underpowered compared > to other birds such as the 172 or PA 28s. But keep in mind the Ercoupes > especialy the charlie model has the same power as many of its early > post war contempories.First kudos for aborting the takeoff when the > aircraft did not feel right. Better to be on the ground trying to > figure it out than wrapped up in a ball. My bird is also a 75hp bird (I > think I need to look at the carb jet at annual) but I don't have any > trouble getting about 2200 static rpm. With these old birds you can't > be sure of the accuracy of the airspeed unless the gauge and system > have been recently checked but with my airplane I rotate about 60 and > she lifts off about 80 speeds which seem high for a coupe but what it > is is what it is. In the air(full gross) I can get it down to about 65 > before it sinks off. No you can't stall them in the traditional sense > they just sink. My airplane seems to have a good climb out even at > full gross. At 2300 I indicate about 105mph. I don't know where you > live but I would suggest that you go to the Ercoupe owners site and see > if you can find a CFI who is familiar with the coupe. I have a close > friend who is a retired airline pilot-and CFI-II with something over > 25000 hrs and he got an hour or two of coupe instruction before he > ferried my plane from Maine. They are a bit different. Very easy > aircraft to drive around the air but landing and takeoff requires > somewhat of a different mindset and technique. As for takeoff it is > really important to keep the nosewheel on the ground -especially in a > xwind-untill the bird has flying speed. I learned quick that if you > rotate early the bird just wants to veer off. A bit scarry to say the > least. The weathervaining on takeoff-climb out- also is unusual untill > you get used to it. Frankly I think the published #s were created more > to market the airplane than what the airplane does. One thing you don't > want to do with this aircraft is get behind the powercurve the sink > rate is unreal. I have alot of tripacer time which sank like a stone > poweroff but I think the coupe is worse. One thing a properly rigged > coupe will not float. Once its on the ground it stays there. The > other thing I would recommend is that you get the 1320lb STC. The STC > not only increases the gross to 1320 but makes the trim a bit more > effective. I am sure there will be a bunch of guys on the site- who are > much more experienced than me with coupes- who can give you a lot of > good advice but be patient and don't push it. Accept the fact that > coupes are underpowered aircraft and accept it. The up side is that > there a bunch of fun and about as cheap to fly (fuelwise) as any > certified airplane. > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > >
