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First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...



 
 
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  #21  
Old July 1st 08, 06:14 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Jay Honeck[_2_]
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Posts: 943
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

Jay: Glad to hear you kept your feet dry....Did the airport
and/or its occupants suffer any damage?


Nope -- but our FBO sure sold a lot of fuel to all of us getting out of
Dodge ahead of the flood waters. I haven't seen that many planes flying
out of Iowa City, ever!

It was close -- but neither we nor the airport got wet.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

  #22  
Old July 2nd 08, 04:16 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
xyzzy
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Posts: 193
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

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....

  #23  
Old July 2nd 08, 05:47 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Jay Honeck[_2_]
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Posts: 943
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

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.

It's a remarkably simple aircraft. I helped with the annual inspection, and
there was nothing that didn't come apart easily, and everything seemed very
robust. It was designed as an "Everyman's Plane" (kinda like the original
Volkswagen cars), and was designed to be simple to fly and easy to maintain.

Of course, it *is* 60 years old. Luckily, ours has many new parts.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

  #24  
Old July 2nd 08, 03:13 PM posted to rec.aviation.owning
xyzzy
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Posts: 193
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

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 .
  #25  
Old July 2nd 08, 04:10 PM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Jay Honeck[_2_]
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Posts: 943
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

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?)


Big snip

Thanks for that. The intergranular corrosion issue is a huge one, and not
just for Ercoupes. Cherokee spars have experienced it, too. It's fatal,
and expensive to fix. Service bulletin 1006 addresses it, and performance
should be a mandatory part of any pre-buy inspection. If it hasn't been
done, either do it (it's not hard) or pass on the plane.

Luckily, intergranular corrosion is fairly easy to spot, once it's
started -- so it's easy to rule out a plane that's got it. Unfortunately,
it can be lurking inside any spar, unseen.

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.


Yep, that's another reason we passed on the LSA Ercoupes. I can tell you
right now that if you see two full-grown men flying in a '46 model, that
aircraft is over gross. How in the heck any CFI gives instruction in those
models is beyond me -- they must just look the other way at the FARs and go
fly.

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 .


I spent some quality time with our insurance policy yesterday, and was
delighted to discover that the company had listed ME as "Honeck, Sr" and my
son as "Honeck, Jr." Since *I* am "Jr.", and my son is "III", I was
mis-reading my insurance requirements to show that I needed a bunch of dual.
I don't.

So, today we're off to fly the 'Coupe!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

  #26  
Old July 2nd 08, 05:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.owning
xyzzy
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Posts: 193
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

On Jul 2, 11:10*am, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

Luckily, intergranular corrosion is fairly easy to spot, once it's
started -- so it's easy to rule out a plane that's got it. * Unfortunately,
it can be lurking inside any spar, unseen.


You mean it's fairly easy to spot once it makes it way out, right?
What I learned was that once it's spottable, it's unrepairable because
it's worked its way from the inside of the metal to the outside. This
may be different between Ercoupes and Cherokees depending on how deep
inside the metal the interface is? I'm not an expert, only speaking
from a 1 hour seminar at OSH.
  #27  
Old July 6th 08, 03:01 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Margy Natalie
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Posts: 476
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

Jay Honeck wrote:


With our schedule, that probably won't happen -- but Joe's just too
green to fly it in by himself. Maybe next year!


Have Joe fly it up the Tuesday or Wednesday before and it's just like
flying into any sleepy, controlled field. He can park it in Vintage
(almost anywhere he wants!) and set up his pup tent. I'm sure there
will be plenty of places he can volunteer while waiting for you to show
up at OSH, or if he wants to come to the party one of his parents can
fly up to get him the evening he lands.

Margy
  #28  
Old July 7th 08, 12:05 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Jay Honeck[_2_]
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Posts: 943
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

Have Joe fly it up the Tuesday or Wednesday before and it's just like
flying into any sleepy, controlled field. He can park it in Vintage
(almost anywhere he wants!) and set up his pup tent. I'm sure there will
be plenty of places he can volunteer while waiting for you to show up at
OSH, or if he wants to come to the party one of his parents can fly up to
get him the evening he lands.


Great idea! We're talking about that right now.

He's gonna have to work on his tower procedures, and he's still got to get
checked out in the Ercoupe -- but it sounds like a great experience for him.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

  #29  
Old July 10th 08, 02:43 PM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Dylan Smith
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Posts: 530
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

On 2008-06-28, Jay Honeck wrote:
pull starter seems odd but remember that contemporary aircraft of the
Ercoupe -- Taylorcrafts, Luscombes, Cessna 120s -- all had to be
hand-propped, so this set up was way ahead of its time.


The Cessna 140 had a starter from new (it was the posh version of the
120), with probably a very similar pull handle for starting!

Glancing nervously at the wings (that we so recently had moved on a
trailer), I was gratified to see no signs of flex or twist. The little plane
kept accelerating, slow but sure and we were soon climbing out at a whopping
300 feet per minute. Sedate, to be sure -- but with 420 pounds of "guys on
board", and hot weather, we were happy to see even THAT anemic rate of
climb.


Now imagine crossing the Sierra Nevadas in something like that :-) Our
140 had a cruise prop. I did cross the Sierra Nevada in it. It took
about 100 miles distance before I had sufficient altitude after leaving
Sacramento!

Leaving SLC on a 90 degree day (elevation 4000') was interesting too. To
gain extra climb rate, I slope soared the 140 off the mountains. It made
a huge difference to the climb rate. The highest airfield I took the 140
into was Four Corners, elevation 6000'. The climb rate was impressively
unimpressive. But once at 11000 feet or so, it used 3.5 gph at wide open
throttle doing just under 90 kts.

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
  #30  
Old July 10th 08, 02:46 PM posted to rec.aviation.owning
Dylan Smith
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Posts: 530
Default First flight in our "new" Ercoupe...

On 2008-06-28, Morgans wrote:
Are you kidding? You going to pull a trailer with the 'coupe, with all of
your camping gear in it? g


It's possible to travel light!

When I had the 140, I got enough gear in it to do a coast to coast
camping trip (coast to coast in the US). I didn't have anyone with me,
but the right seat was empty bar my charts - I could get everything I
needed behind the seat.

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
 




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