("Doofus P. Leadbottom" wrote)
I've got somewhat of a liking for Ercoupes and its derivitives. They seem
to be inexpensive to purchase, and somewhat cheap to fly and maintain. For
a fairly new pilot, who just want to fly for the fun of it, are they a
good
bet?


No. they're crap. Now go away ...and quit trying to drive up the price of my
favorite little airplane.

$15K (flying *and* annualed) if you get lucky ...just a little.

$16-$20K for many - watch out, some of these are dogs with much work needed.

$21-$25K asking on a bunch more of them - this is where much value can be
realized, IMHO. Some of these have $15K worth of effort poured into them
over the past 5 years.

Anything over that price is probably a 1960's Alon or the Mooney version
(twin Ercoupe tail or straight Mooney tail) ...some of those are listed at
$35K and up. There are some 1946 Ercoupes going for big money too, but
they're really, really cherry ...or their owners are nuts.

http://www.ercoupe.org/Coupe_models_table.htm

The 415C and 415 CD's are the two models available to Sport Pilot hopefuls
because of the 1,320 lb LSP restriction. If one of those planes has had a
mod installed over the years, it might have pushed the GW up to 1,400 lbs -
now it's out of LSP contention.

The LSP 16hr/120 hour maintenance program option does not apply to Ercoupes
because it is a previously certified airplane outside of the new LSP
umbrella - according to the EAA guru of all things Sport Pilot. Annuals
still need to be handled the way one would handle an annual for their
Warrior or C-152/172.


Montblack