How Not To Land An Ercoupe

Hmm... I just saw that plane in the maintenance shop. Didn't realize how it got there.
 
At first I thought it looked like a stall in a nose-heavy configuration and drop of the nose, but after seeing that stall test video, and looking again, it looks more like the pilot tried to force it on, thinking he was closer than he was (flared way too high obviously). If the nose wheel stayed "together" I think it would have bounced/porpoised good.
Yea, I looked for a few stall videos, seems that they stall pretty flat to tail low vs nose low. I wonder if he had a tail wind, seems to be moving pretty quick but its hard to tell from a video.
 
I would have been tempted to kill the engine once those prop tips started smacking the pavement.
 
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To me it looked gusty, perhaps,the gust laid down just as he was flaring and it dropped. Isn't that the very reason we add half the gust factor?
 
As long as he left it running, it probably ground enough off to quit hitting the pavement. No rush to shut down then. :eek:
 
He looked kinda mesmerized by the whole thing...and the tick-tick-tick cadence of the prop just added to his Zen landing.

I'm always turning my 12x6 r/c props into 11.5x6 props with a little scrape-age. Fortunately, no flange tests or tear-downs of brushless motors required! :D
 
Probably the "tick-tick-tick..." sound was being drowned out by the pilot yelling "****-****-****..." at the same time.
 
He looked kinda mesmerized by the whole thing...and the tick-tick-tick cadence of the prop just added to his Zen landing.

I'm pretty sure I'd be mesmerized by a landing where the nosegear departed into the weeds and I slid to a stop on what was left of the nose strut, too. LOL.
 
My thought after grinding to a halt would be, "Do I really need to get out and walk away from this right now, or can I stay here until everyone else goes home?"
At least this happened in a disposable (almost) airplane that cost less than a new Harley. We witnessed a guy land a P-51 gear up, and when he slid to a stop he just sat inside with his head down for a long time...
 
My thought after grinding to a halt would be, "Do I really need to get out and walk away from this right now, or can I stay here until everyone else goes home?"

And...

Oh hell. I'm sure someone had a video camera on their phone...
 
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