All right, `coupers.
Some real food for thought appeared in the Wall Street Journal
last week. The Wednesday edition (August 18) said that the "stick shift"
is going out of cars. The cell phone may be the death knell in it's
declining popularity. "I was always having to put people on hold to
change gears," according to one driver. Like the bumper sticker says,
"Hang up and drive!"
Manual transmissions have gone from 17.5% on new cars in 1989 to
13.6% in 1997. Oldsmobile had the first automatic transmission in 1940.
Wasn't that about when the Ercoupe came out?
Of course, the driver can do more. "With the stick and
controlling
the gears, you have total control of the car," according to a race
driving
teacher. Are all drivers racers? Are all pilots flying fighters in
combat?
The article points out that cheap gas and electronically
controlled
transmissions have erased most of the economic incentive for buying a
manual
gear box. Driving schools don't teach stick shifts because of
maintenance
costs - fixing the ground gears! Automobile manufacturers have to
collect
gas milage and exhaust emissions for every engine/transmission
combination,
so eliminating the manual transmission would save them bucks. Computer
controlled gear shifting is much more efficient than the old hydrolically
operated "goo boxes" of yesteryear
My wife has a policy: "If a car is too dumb to shift gears, it is
too dumb for me to deal with." My take is "If an airplane is too dumb to
keep
its tail behind it in a turn, it is too dumb for me." Now you know why I
fly
what I fly. Granting it is not for every one, but:
* Easier to learn to start with. The minimum to solo was reduced from 8
hours to 5 in 1940 for the Ercoupe over the Cub and similar.
* Less ongoing training. I, like most of you, don't fly often enough.
I
once read somewhere that it takes 35 hours a year to keep proficient
in
an airplane. You fly that much? If not, isn't it nice to have
something
that takes care of itself?
* Safer. Moving the tail around in a near-stall situation can convert
it
into a spin real quick.
So remember this when the local "coupe bigots" snear at you.
Percy in Portland
"Why haven't we won yet?"
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>
