Sport Pilot Talk

TimTaylor wrote:Congratulations. It it everything you hoped it would be?

Yes it is. Some minor upgrade will need to be done, but not this summer. She flys great and looks even better after I spent 5 hours washing and cleaning her today.

Nope not Eclipse info.

Just thought I would mention I now have about 8 hours in my Ercoupe. Still loving every moment. Just ordered a new radio for her as the one in her is well not responding unless you call pure static a response, this is with or without the engine running and only have about 5-10 minutes of use.

So far, 2 hours flying home. 3 hours flying cross country to Seymour IN (museum) then to Sporty's at Clermont, this was the day my radio decided it didn't like me. Then a hour of pattern work this last Friday night, then yesterday (the 20th of August) I flew to Urbana-Grimes airport for a fly-in, spent the day then flew home about 2 hours of total up and back.

If I didn't have a headache today, I would be at the field right now getting her fueled up and going for a flight.

Looks like you got a keeper Joey, that's a nice looking Ercoupe. I didn't see this mentioned, so: does your airplane have STC'ed rudder pedals, or is it as God and Ercoupe intended with the spin-proof rudder/aileron interconnect?

MrMorden wrote:Looks like you got a keeper Joey, that's a nice looking Ercoupe. I didn't see this mentioned, so: does your airplane have STC'ed rudder pedals, or is it as God and Ercoupe intended with the spin-proof rudder/aileron interconnect?

No rudder pedals in my coupe. I even bought a t-shirt that says "I don't need no stinking rudder pedals" with an Ercoupe on the shirt of course.

I always wondered about Ercoupes ... how do you land in a crosswind ? Without de-crab and let the wheels take it ?

Warmi wrote:I always wondered about Ercoupes ... how do you land in a crosswind ? Without de-crab and let the wheels take it ?

You land in a crab, just take the crab all the way down to the runway. The coupe will straighten out on touchdown, then you push the yoke forward and maintain centerline. So far the highest crosswind I have done was 15 gusting to 20 direct crosswind. She landed perfectly.

Interesting.

But yeah, it is a nice looking plane. When I look at Ercoupe planes, can't help myself but think of baby-Mig 19/17s

joey4420 wrote:

MrMorden wrote:Looks like you got a keeper Joey, that's a nice looking Ercoupe. I didn't see this mentioned, so: does your airplane have STC'ed rudder pedals, or is it as God and Ercoupe intended with the spin-proof rudder/aileron interconnect?

No rudder pedals in my coupe. I even bought a t-shirt that says "I don't need no stinking rudder pedals" with an Ercoupe on the shirt of course.

You need another one that says "I taxi my airplane the same way I drive my car...with the steering wheel!"

joey4420 wrote:

Warmi wrote:I always wondered about Ercoupes ... how do you land in a crosswind ? Without de-crab and let the wheels take it ?

You land in a crab, just take the crab all the way down to the runway. The coupe will straighten out on touchdown, then you push the yoke forward and maintain centerline. So far the highest crosswind I have done was 15 gusting to 20 direct crosswind. She landed perfectly.

There are videos on YouTube of Ercoupes landing very well in 30kt+ direct crosswinds. It's a great crosswind machine, just a little unconventional.

MrMorden wrote:

joey4420 wrote:

Warmi wrote:I always wondered about Ercoupes ... how do you land in a crosswind ? Without de-crab and let the wheels take it ?

You land in a crab, just take the crab all the way down to the runway. The coupe will straighten out on touchdown, then you push the yoke forward and maintain centerline. So far the highest crosswind I have done was 15 gusting to 20 direct crosswind. She landed perfectly.

There are videos on YouTube of Ercoupes landing very well in 30kt+ direct crosswinds. It's a great crosswind machine, just a little unconventional.

That says a lot for the Ercoupe landing gear.

Wm.Ince wrote:

MrMorden wrote:

joey4420 wrote:You land in a crab, just take the crab all the way down to the runway. The coupe will straighten out on touchdown, then you push the yoke forward and maintain centerline. So far the highest crosswind I have done was 15 gusting to 20 direct crosswind. She landed perfectly.

There are videos on YouTube of Ercoupes landing very well in 30kt+ direct crosswinds. It's a great crosswind machine, just a little unconventional.

That says a lot for the Ercoupe landing gear.

Yeah, I'm not sure how the tires stay on the rims!

Wm.Ince wrote:

MrMorden wrote:

joey4420 wrote:You land in a crab, just take the crab all the way down to the runway. The coupe will straighten out on touchdown, then you push the yoke forward and maintain centerline. So far the highest crosswind I have done was 15 gusting to 20 direct crosswind. She landed perfectly.

There are videos on YouTube of Ercoupes landing very well in 30kt+ direct crosswinds. It's a great crosswind machine, just a little unconventional.

That says a lot for the Ercoupe landing gear.

The interesting part is that in their FAQ it states that, while it is reasonably sturdy, there is nothing special about Ercoupe landing gear and the fact that you can land it sideways is just natural way of how tricycle planes automatically align with the runway.

To me , after experiencing a few "Ercoupe style" landings, with the gear making terrible "I am about to give up " type of noise , I am not so sure I would consider that healthy way of landing, at least on my plane

I think the Ercoupe gear also has some trailing links with some play in them that make it work better for the crabbed landings.

MrMorden wrote:I think the Ercoupe gear also has some trailing links with some play in them that make it work better for the crabbed landings.

Believe it or not, most airliners are capable of landing the same way. It even states that in the operator manuals.
That withstanding, I would say that technique is rarely used by most airline pilots.