Jack Lewis wrote: I would just like to see what the difference > is. I've heard the praises both ways and would like to > see what each was like.
I flew a two-control 415-E once from New York state to Illinois. For comparison, my own Coupe has an Alon rudder pedal kit. In the two-control plane, the ball seemed to stay centered within about half a ball. When I'm being attentive in my own Coupe, I can generally keep it within the same limit. I'm used to using a slip to tweak my final approach. That lets me cover up a lot of sins of technique in the other aspects of my pattern. For practice, I once in a while just keep the ball centered and see how perfectly I can fly the approach. As a game with myself, I'll allow power reductions but no power increases. Occasionally, I'll pull the power to idle to practice loss-of-power. For variety, I'll sometimes let myself do slips and sometimes require only coordinated flight. Airspeed certainly controls sink/penetration a lot in the Coupe. Low speed gives a steep angle of approach. Higher speeds give better penetration against a headwind. And the Ercoupe falling leaf can be bad for your relationship with passengers who are pilots. Bringing the wheel back to the stop then horsing it back and forth, left and right, at minimum flying speed drops a LOT of altitude compared to forward travel. (If you ever try it, remember, PLEASE remember, to drop the nose HIGH ENOUGH TO REGAIN GOOD CONTROL SPEED AND LEVEL OUT FOR THE LANDING!) I'll usually fly crosswind landings with a slip. However, when the crosswind component is >15 mph, I don't have enough rudder surface to track the centerline in a pure slip. Rather than use a combo method, I'll level the wings and approach and land in a crab, Ercoupe style, with wings level and the nose as high as I can get it. We rotate and line up with the runway with very little departure from the centerline. After touchdown I have an advantage over two-control Coupes and three-control ERCO pedal-kit Coupes. With an Alon kit, the nosewheel is controlled by the feet. This lets me turn the ailerons into the wind. Therefore we never get the upwind wing lift that the other coupes get. (Downside: I think ground control is a lot more positive using the wheel to control the nosewheel.) I'm told that the wing lift can give a hairy ride but that it's safe since the plane is controllable. I'm not an expert on this but I've typed a lot of articles into Coupe Capers on the subject. The gist, as I remember it, is that if your tail height on the ground is up to specs (74 inches I think), your wing lift and crosswind behavior in a two-control plane is always adequate. Bob Saunders, who did a lot of the ERCO test flying and later with his brother built the Coupes, gave us an article that added: if you stomp on the brakes immediately after touchdown, you greatly improve the after touchdown crosswind behavior. I've also typed in an article by a person who lost some control, left the runway and took out a landing light, in a plane with a drooping tail. His wings had that extra angle of attack that made the situation worse. Hope I haven't overdone the answer. If you have contradictory information, please post it. What I've written is a summary of a lot of back and forth discussions and --> the things I don't know and the ones I think I know which aren't right are my mortal enemies. -- Ed Burkhead East Peoria, Ill. N3802H, 415-D
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