Ercoupe pics

[skyflyer8]

I have Ercoupes on the brain and can't sleep.

Today was a good day to be in an Ercoupe with the windows down, but too bad I wasn't in it. I was on the ground taking pictures! My student Todd took his second solo flight... and third... flying 1.7 hours today on his day off. His first solo was last Wednesday the 10th. It only took him a few hours to transition from the 172. Check out the spiffy paint scheme on this plane!

Todd is the first person I've trained to fly an Ercoupe. We've been having a lot of fun. This plane is so easy to fly and so nearly foolproof that I had no worries signing him off for a first solo on our 20-foot-wide runway in a crosswind. I normally have people do first solos elsewhere.

Meanwhile I have been working with our school's mechanic as usual, and tonight we hooked up the rudder cables and one of the aileron bellcranks on our school's Ercoupe. (We've been restoring it since June last year.) Its wingless fuselage saw the light of day last month during a taxi test, but not since. We are ready to put wings on this weekend, and we're inching closer to the first flight. I don't have any recent pictures but I'll have some "before & after" pics soon. Ours doesn't have nearly as cool of a paint scheme, but it is sort of military colors -- blue fuselage and yellow wings.

Can't wait till our school's Ercoupe is up and running, since I have a waiting list of students for it. I'm looking forward to spreading the Ercoupe smile mentioned in Rick Durden's 1998 AOPA article. Worth a read if you want to learn more about the plane.

 

[Ghery]

Too much fun. That's what some folks are having. Nice pics.

 

[Ted]

Where're more pics of the Navajo?

Sounds like fun, Kate!

 

[tonycondon]

i miss the ercoupe smile. cool pics kate and congrats to your student

 

[CJones]

Cool pics and congrats on another solo!

Are you gonna make it down to Knoxville, IA (KOXV) this weekend for the 'Regional Ercoupe Flyin'? I went down there year before last and there were 20-30 Ercoupes there from what I could see - of all models and colors. Maybe you have a student that needs a LONG XC this weekend.

 

[steingar]

Cool pictures. I love Ercoupes, although I've never beens sufficiently privileged to fly one. A gaggle of them showed up at Osh, looked like quite a few.

 

[Dan Thomas]

Cool pictures. I love Ercoupes, although I've never beens sufficiently privileged to fly one. A gaggle of them showed up at Osh, looked like quite a few.

They seem to be increasing in popularity. Whether it's nostalgia or just the high cost of flying that are making old airplanes fly again, I don't know, but since I like old stuff I think it's a good thing.
I finished up a restoration of a '67 Alon Aircoupe (the last iteration of the line) but my part was limited to getting the fuel and electrical systems working right and doing some flying in it. It had 90 hp and grossed 1450. The Cessna 150s we had at the same time had 100 hp and grossed 1600, so the power-to-weight ratio was about the same. But that Aircoupe took off much shorter, climbed considerably faster, and cruised 20 mph faster. The tradeoff was gliding distance and comfort. Lots of noise, uncomfortable seats, and a steep approach, but still it was a much more efficient airplane than the 150. Oh, and this one had rudder pedals so crosswind landings were closer to normal. There wasn't enough rudder authority to slip aggressively, but with those short wings and the steep glide, slips weren't often necessary.

Dan