|
Ercoupe Pilot Considerations
Ercoupe
landing & take-off techniques, with emphasis on cross wind conditions. Thanks to Ed Burkhead for
the link below.
http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe2/coupe_landings.htm
Here's a home video
from the EAA Flabob event, made by a local Bellanca pilot. He must have a
sense of humor, recording the landings at Flabob with some nasty cross winds
however; he captured a landing by 68H and me, with quite a crab angle! The
winds out of the north (a direct cross wind @ Flabob) at 20 gusting to 30
knots. @ 5:40 into the video you can watch N3968H land. The winds
required over 30 degrees of crab angle; fortunately 68H did her job and made me
look like a better pilot than I am (a nice design feature, I'd say!). The
really interesting part is watching & listening to the take off of the Bellanca
at the end of the video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Ob7toBLP2I
*** Do you have a
Normal & EMERGENCY CHECK LIST for your Ercoupe? Wayne DelRossi
provided the attached Alon check lists which make a great place to start; just
be sure to edit it as required for our particular airplane (including indicated
airspeeds)!
Here are some sample
checklists. These are available for you to download and adjust for your own
application.
Ercoupe 1
Ercoupe 2
Alon
Alon Emergency
***What instruments
are legally required for an Ercoupe? Here are some comments & information from
the Ercoupe Tech list (the
mentioned Ercoupe equipment list attached);
"Minimum equipment
lists are using in 135 operations to allow continued operation with failed or
inoperative equipment. So if an airplane had two of something if would allow
continued operation with one failed. For your Ercoupe under day-VFR all you
need is those items listed for day VFR. I'm not aware of anyone using an Ercoupe
for commercial operations that would require an MEL."
"Attached
is an equipment list that was posted some time ago. Bill Biggs"
Frank Nelson of
Torrance had asked a question on the Ercoupe tech list concerning the old 2
control versus 3 control limitation if you take your check ride in an Ercoupe?
Here's some interesting information that the EAA provided to Frank that issue;
EAA's Response;The
issue with taking a practical test in an Ercoupe without rudder pedals is not
directly addressed in the regulations themselves. To find the answer, one must
look in the guidance that an FAA inspector or Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE)
would use when performing practical tests and issuing pilot certifiates. This
guidance is found in FAA Order 8710.3E, Change 1, titled "Designated Pilot and
Flight Engineer Examiners' Handbook". In Chapter 5, Section 1, item number 7E,
titled "Aircraft Limitations", the following verbiage appears:
>> SNIP<< E. Aircraft Limitations. A limitation will be placed on an
applicant's pilot certificate if the applicant provides an aircraft that has
operating characteristics that preclude it from performing all the tasks
required during the practical test (per 14 CFR § 61.45(b)(2)). However, this
situation and the kind of aircraft to be used must be specifically identified
and approved by the FAA, General Aviation and
Commercial Division, AFS-800, at 800 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC
20591 (phone: (202) 267-8212) on a case-by-case basis.
(1) For the record, AFS-800 generally disapproves the use of such aircraft, but
it may grant approval on a case-by-case basis.
(2) For example, in the past, AFS-800 has approved the Ercoupe 415 series
airplanes for use in a practical test. Persons seeking to use an Ercoupe 415
series airplane for a practical test would receive the limitation LIMITED TO
ERCOUPE 415 SERIES WITHOUT RUDDER PEDALS. >>SNIP<<
As you can see from reading the above, the issue isn't specifically the fact
that the aircraft doesn't have rudder pedals. The issue is that the aircraft
cannot perform all the tasks required by the practical test. The lack of rudder
pedals specifically effects the ability of the aircraft do perform forward
slips, which is a required task on the practical test. The aircraft also cannot
perform the required stalls. Thus, the pilot performs a practical test in the
Ercoupe without rudder pedals will be restricted to flying only Ercoupes without
rudder pedals until such time as he/she performs a practical test in an aircraft
that is capable of performing all the required maneuvers.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Joe Norris
EAA Aviation Services
888-322-4636, extension 6806
www.eaa.org
***Re: [COUPERS]
Coupe airfoil Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 19:11:25
The airfoil is
43013. The only other aircraft to use the 43000 family of airfoils is the
ATR-42/72 air carrier turboprops.
The airfoil is constructed by taking a symmetrical airfoil and bending the
leading edge down at the 15% point to form a 13% camber. The airfoil achieves
good low drag performance in cruise as would a symmetrical airfoil and develops
good lift coefficients at high angles of attack because of the drooped leading
edge. The airfoil has very little pitching moment which lowers the trim drag,
further reducing drag.
The bad news is that the airfoil has a big problem with stall recovery and must
only be used in aircraft which are never allowed to stall. The problem is that
once stalled, the wing will not un-stall until a significantly greater than
stall speed is achieved. This would be considered undesirable in a trainer or
any service where good slow flight behavior is important.
The unpleasant behavior of this series of airfoils worries me when someone
suggests trying to modify and improve the wing with vortex generators and wing
tip mods. This is an area to move very slowly in and, there are more
productive ways to improve performance.
The five digit airfoils were very popular with NACA at the time of the Ercoupes'
development but they are easily improved upon by the six digit airfoil series.
When the Ercoupe was reincarnated as the Cherokee series a six digit airfoil was
chosen even though the wing could not be constructed smoothly enough to achieve
the benefits of laminar airflow. The more common of the five digit airfoils are
the 23000 series which are very common on light twins and some singles although
the airfoil shares the poor stall behavior of the 43000 series. When you hear
of a light twin loosing control and rolling inverted after the failure of one
engine, the airfoil is a big contributor to the event.
Is this more than you wanted to know about your wing? Good luck, Bob Condon
| 
