Potential Ercoupe Purchase
SeaQuest
I am considering the purchase of an Ercoupe 415-C and am wondering what
other expiriences are with this aircraft. My primary purpose is local flying
and time building with emphasis on being economical. I understand that this
aircraft is "very economical to operate". I'm also concerned about an
aircraft that has no flaps and no rudder pedals. If you have any experience
with this aircraft, I would be very interested in hearing your experiences.
Jim
Bob Fry
chip in some comments anyway.
A pedal-less and flap-less Ercoupe flies and handles just fine, but
you won't be gaining experience with the rudder or flaps for other
airplanes. I think they're great aircraft for the money. I've put on
more hours in 7-8 months of ownership than I did in a few years
previous to owning. Other aircraft of like engine are also cheap to
fly, but I'm pretty sure my Aircoupe beats many certificated
two-seaters for speed (100 kts honest cruise at less than full
throttle) (52 inch cruise prop and 90hp Continental).
For me, ownership meant several things, including simply liking the
aircraft I owned. In addition to being a good buy, I have an airplane
that is distinctive and often gets comments wherever I land. I like
that as part of the total flying experience. Visibility is very good
except of course straight below. You can fly around all day with the
canopy open, what I often do on a hot day is open the canopy in the
pattern and get a nice breeze. Get a good hat
(http://www.tilley.com/shop2.asp?path=root\Tilley_Hats) and you'll be
fine. With the Tilleys you can snap the brim up on the sides so your
headset fits.
Be sure to get a competent preflight, as corrosion in these old planes
may be a problem. The new AD requires inspection of the wing center
section every three years by 1 of 3 methods: borescope, cutting more
inspectio holes, or wing removal (not as bad as you might think). The
best suggestion I've heard so far is to remove the wing the first
time. You'll have to do that anyway to fix things should you find
corrosion. Then cut the holes and inspect that way in the future,
since it's not a good idea to be removing the wings a lot apparently.
Nobody is going the borescope route that I've heard of.
I looked at 10-15 Coupes before I bought; there is a lot of mediocre
stuff out there since they are so old.
Here are some pertinent web sites. The last two are email lists.
http://www.flash.net/~dmprosvc/dave/purchase.htm
http://www.ercoupe.org/
http://www.ercoupers.com/
http://www.ercoupe.net/
http://www.escribe.com/aviation/coupers/index.html
http://www.escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/index.html
Wayne
anything though. Be warned that they have varying max gross weights and are
difficult to stall due to their lack on deflection on the elevator. You want
to keep your airspeed up enough on final that your elevator doesn't lose
it's effectiveness or you may not be able to pull far enough back to get
into the flare when you need it. There have been many nosegears cleaned off
in this manner. As long as you take note from other owners and use it as
intended, it's a fine little plane and so much fun to fly around in the open
air. You won't see the 100 knots with the canopy open though but it's not
for speed anyway. Some other pecularities are;
some have an automatic carb heat controlled by the throttle. (I like to
control when that unfiltered air goes in)
And electric fuel pumps to fill the gravity tank in the middle.( Not so odd
but unlike the high wings most train in)
It is very strange to land in a crab like they do in a crosswind but
they seem to just straighten right out on their own with no problem. The
visibility is great.
For a time builder, what more could you ask for. When you get more hours
and more money later, trade up. There are many websites and clubs that will
tell you everything you need to look for based on their serial numbers.
Let us know what you decide.
Wayne
"SeaQuest" <seaq...@canada.com> wrote in message
news:Djc8a.366560$Yo4.12...@news1.calgary.shaw.ca...
I O Yu
stall a coupe. Land a bit hot, steer into the wind and when the mains
hit, push the nose down, it'll stop flying and straighten itself out
like magic.
Now there are a bunch of things to know, or you'll get screwed.
First, Ercoupe owners are the cheapest SOB's in the United States, so
don't expect to get one that the owner has spent any good money on to
keep it flying. A double fork nose gear is great, but check all the
steering mechanisms, parts are impossible! Single fork nose tires are
very expensive. Make sure the tail is nice and high, not sagging
down. DON'T buy one that hasn't had the AD's complied with, including
the newest one, they're there for a good reason. WEIGHT is the all
important factor in there, so if it's loaded down with crap, be
careful. 5 pounds in these little guys make a difference. Fabric
wings are better (lighter) polished is better (lighter). Get a prebuy
by someone that knows these planes and make sure the wing spars are
checked for corrosion. Check the firewall. if there's crinkling down
below, it shows a cheap repair. Measure the length of the prop, many
are too short. Don't get a project. Wing spars are about 3K each and
a center section is about 7K. Sure you can buy used parts, but there
were mostly made over 50 years ago. Best thing you can buy is a
Forney with the C90 if you can find one. You can't open the canopy in
full flight on the Alon or the Mooney, regardless of what they might
say.
Don't listen to that electric fuel pump stuff! Just make sure your
mechanical pump is up to snuff.
http://www.flash.net/~dmprosvc/dave/ Dave's Ercoupe Page
http://www.ercoupers.com/ Ercouper's page
tdsdwheels On Sat, 1 Mar 2003 22:22:04 -0500, "Wayne"