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

I agree with what Montblack, Jay and Bob have already said about the
Ercoupe. I bought my 415-C 3.5 years ago while I was living in southern
Texas. I had a pre-inspection done and a checkout for insurance then flew it
from Iowa to Texas. I flew it locally a couple times a month while in Texas
for about 6 months then I moved back to Iowa and flew it more often. About 6
months after that, I moved to Minnesota and the closest hangar available was
30 miles away and I didn't get a chance to fly as much as I wanted. I
finally got the plane moved to a hangar near where I was living and would
try to fly at least weekly during the summer. I have moved again and the
plane is again 30+ miles away so I'm not flying as much as I want, again.

When I bought mine 3+ years ago, most flyable Ercoupes were in the $10-15k
range. My annual inspections and maintenance have been reasonable, 'usually'
about $300 each year. The majors were replacing the battery, tires, sliding
windows, cargo bag, cracked rudder rib, removed the old 90-channel Nav/Com
and installed a MicroAir com radio, Trimble GPS, and a directional gyro.
Altogether, if I were to sell it for the $15-20k range that they're going
for now, I'd still make a fairly good profit.

I'm debating whether to sell mine or find local partners that want to share
the expenses. I have also considered getting the Sport Pilot CFI added to my
PPL so I could do some training in it.

As far as the OP was asking about an Ercoupe, yes, it's great for that
mission. If you're interested in using one for Sport Pilot purposes, get the
415-C (or C/D?). If you don't fail your medical, you can still fly it...

-Greg B.