Bob Urban wrote: I was at Jacksonville yesterday. Arrived at 9 AM and left at 12:30. Waited for the lunch or would have left sooner. The hot dog was as expected, but I never had pulverized B-B-Q before. Must be for the old farts without teeth! Seems even free plane rides didn't pack the youngsters in. The youngest coupe owner I could find looked close to 40! For a NATIONAL event appx 32 Ercoupes seems less than noteworthy. Not impressed by what I saw other than the Coupes themselves. Mostly I got to know I was getting OLD. Hell, it looked a like small AARP senior citizens meeting. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was disappointed. ______________________________________________________________________
I went to Jacksonville on Sat, arriving at about 10:30 am after a three hour flight. Sorry I missed you Bob and I hope you won't opt out yet--I'd rather you got radically involved. The lunch was as Bob described, but typical for a fly-in. The fly-in was hosted by John Wright, Sr., and his family, including wife, sons, daughter in law and granddaughter. The did a good job and agreed to do it again next year. The location was easy to find and there was plenty of parking. Before Sat was over there were 63 coupes there. It had rained hard on Thur and Fri, and many of the people that had planned to come got weathered in. They had expected about 100 coupes from the pre-registrations and other inquiries. Some of Fred Weick's family were there, and a tour of various coupe models was provided for them and anyone else that wanted to tag alone. The banquet was a nice event. It didn't last too long, the (Holiday Inn) facility was good, if a bit cool, the food was good, and every one seemed to enjoy themselves. I think 183 attended the banquet. The Wrights' had managed to get some nice door prizes, including a new fuel pump, a fuel pump overhaul kit, a $150 gift certificate from Airtex, and lots of smaller items. The youngest and oldest pilot, and they had to have flown in, was 28 and 82. It's true that many of the participants were over 60, but everyone seemed to mesh ok. Many of the participants know each other only through these events, and clearly enjoyed seeing each other again. But the oldest pilot only got his license 6 years ago, so he was as much a newcomer as the youngest pilot. The issue wasn't age because everyone there thought young, even if some body parts displayed a greater maturity. Almost every one was very friendly, which seemed to be the common denominator. By Sun morning, those of us who didn't know anyone on Sat, were re-greeted by other participants who still had not met us, but who recognized us from the day before. There was lots of couper-togetherness displayed, which I enjoyed, even though I am not generally group oriented. It was nice to be able to talk to owners of planes, especially when I saw something that was unique or of interest for my own plane. The variety of coupes, the paint schemes, and the instrument packages (or lack thereof), made the trip worthwhile. Getting to know other coupers across the county was also worthwhile. I met Ed Burkhead there, and talked to a couple of the EOC wing directors about a web page, and I think something will get done along that line. However, I think the establishment of other web pages is also benefical and appropriate. There were a lot of other "new" coupe owners there, so I think there is plenty of "young blood" to keep a couper organization afloat. For our registration money, we got a picture of our plane mounted on a ceramic tile square for hanging on the wall; some other inconsequential tokens; a clean airport facility with local volunteers helping to organize the gaggle; a chance to fly young eagles; shuttled from the airport to the hotel and back, and an opportunity to gether with others interested in coupes. I thought it was worth it, and I plan to go again next year. The best example of couper spirit was John Wright, Sr. Apparently he is well known throughout the country by other coupers. He gives the maintenance lecture at Oshkosh (Wed at 10 in tent 10 this year, I think), and is said to know as much about coupes as anyone. One coupe owner asked John to look at a part on his alternator, and before you know it, John had the engine half torn down fixing the one thing that led to another. It was more than the owner had asked, or expected, and I heard that John wouldn't take anything for his effort. I hope their attendance at fly-ins like this one will nurture the young bloods to continue this tradition. Ken Doyle Springfield, Mo Alon N5477E
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