On Jul 2, 12:47*am, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
congrats on your purchase. *I was hot for Ercoupes for several years,
but going to an Ercoupe maintanence seminar at Oshkosh 07 cured me of
that. *Of course I don't have an A&P for a partner either....

Can you share some of what you learned? *Other than the wing service
bulletin that requires an incredible 17 inspection panels in the bottom of
the wing, I haven't heard about any real Ercoupe maintenance bugaboos.

Mainly intergranular corrosion. I learned that, except for the Alon
models, all the Ercoupe spars were made in one batch in the 1940s,
whichever year it was that most 'coupes were made (1947?) , and that
same batch of spars was passed from type owner to type owner over the
years and continued to be used. Now it's turning out that they have
significant manufacturing defects (I think having to do with the
interface between different metal types) and they are all rotting from
the inside out. Since the corrosion is internal and intergranular,
it's pretty hard to detect without specialized equipment, and once it
can be detected visually, the spar is already a total loss. Also,
because it's intergranular, no amount of keeping the spars dry or anti-
corrosion coatings will help.

Note that this is not the same as the conventional corrosion that
prompted the swiss cheese AD, which was thought to be caused by leaks,
mouse urine, etc. Like I said that may not be as much of a problem
with an A&P for a partner, but it was enough to scare me off.

However on the bright side, last year at OshKosh someone announced
that he had completed an STC to bring the sport pilot eligible
Ercoupe's gross weight up to the sport pilot maximum -- a 60lb
increase.

I agree with you that the 'coupe is a blast to fly, screw the snobs
who hate it because of no rudder pedals, or its ability to land at ANY
airspeed (as long as the gear and tail heights are rigged right), or
its other "quirky" features -- flying is supposed to be fun, right?

However I do sort of agree with your insurance company on training,
they are very easy and fun to fly but some things (like xwind
handling) are different enough that someone trained on a conventional
airplane has to unlearn a few things, or at least do some things that
feel very uncomfortable at first (taking off in a left crosswind is,
umm, fun). It would probably be easier without years of conventional
two-control airplane experience under your belt .