Rocky Stevens wrote:
On Aug 17, 9:11 am, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
The old Coupe is a wonderful airplane as I'm sure you have already
learned. It chugs along quite cheerfully on a dime. I have a few hours in
one that we had on the field. It was a lot of fun, sort of like a car. I'd
roll down the side window and just feel the breezes. We flew it off a hard
surface but it behaved a bit better on the grass.
I haven't taken it on grass yet, but it lands so easily I expect it'll be
very nice. (Our local grass strip -- one of our favorite places to fly --
is still closed since the flooding in June. Six feet of water killed the
grass, and they're keeping it closed until the turf comes back strong enough
to take the abuse of landings.)

The one thing I recall more than anything else was how low the nose was
when we had to prop it once in a while.
You may be describing a typical problem with 'Coupes. The landing gear
geometry is important, and with age gets "off" as the landing gear donuts
age and sag. This also adversely impacts take-off performance, as it
changes the angle of attack. Our landing gear is brand new, and sits fairly
tall, especially compared to the old, clapped out Ercoupe I flew in back in
Wisconsin.

Of course, it's a tiny airplane, so even "sitting tall" it's pretty low to
the ground. Everything about it is...cute.

Looks like your son has taken to the bird with no trouble at all. Glad you
guys are getting some relief from the gas prices :-))
Yeah, we can pretty much fly the 'Coupe four times a week (or more) for what
it costs to fly Atlas once. Once the weather gets cold, and we're not able
to fly with the top down, I expect we'll not be flying "Sweetie" quite so
much -- but ya gotta make hay while the sun's shining!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

How expensive is it to maintain a coupe, relative to other aircraft?
There are a few models that are LSA eligible, and I have been tossing
the idea of buying one to train in.

Can't speak to the current prices, but for sheer fun on a budget, the
Coupe is a great little airplane. I wouldn't recommend buying one for
initial flight training however. Your initial learning curve requires
acclimation to controls and control response that are much better
learned in a straight conventional setup. Even an Ercoupe with a rudder
conversion would not be as suitable for initial training as say a 150
Cessna. Once you have coordination down pat, the switch to a Coupe is a
fun thing.

--
Dudley Henriques