Once again, sorry I was so negative in my last post, but I really love the little airplane and every day I'm watching more of them rot away. Pete asked me to explain myself a little, and a bunch of guys have been emailing me saying that they thought there were some shennagans going on.
The main reason I became a director was because I wanted to promote Ercoupe restoration and ownership. I really feel badly about kinda "abandoning" my Ercoupe folks, but when you see what I've seen, it's extremely depressing. Many of us, like Dave (of Dave's Ercoupe Page) worked pretty hard trying to get things going. Funny thing was, we did! I guess I figured that most folks felt the way I do, and counted on their dedications also, but I was wrong. Unfortunately, the folks with the same dedications were just as hurt as I was. To do something good, there needs to be a solid core of good people, willing to get dirty cooking, and not justing wait to eat. Anyway I spoke about the Luscombe Foundation (www.luscombe.org), because I am somewhat familiar with their work. I watched from the very beginning, where a couple of guys had a dream about doing something to save the Luscombes, (just like we've talked about), set up their own deal and said 'to hell with what's already out there". They put a master plan together, began to promote it by getting in touch with owners and lovers, started buying parts and making them available, restored an airplane for a raffle, found and bought original tooling and finally found and bought one of the type certificates. That's right, a non-profit organization owns the type for a Luscombe. Isn't that amazing? Anyway, visit the web site and get an idea of the work they've done. Sounds easy from the way I explained it, but it took a ling time (6 years?). They should be applauded. After reading the stories and seeing what's been accomplished, let your imagnation go. This same thing can be done for the coupes, including the type certificate. Just takes a dream, dedication, negotiation, and some balls! Off my soap box for now; Al
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>
