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Thanks for your comments, I need all the real world info I can get. As far as getting my intructor checked out, I am not sure what she really needs, I do have a buddy with a CFI rating that has a few hours (years ago) in a coupe that would be glad to go up with her (just to get to fly the 'coupe). That is probably all she'll need. I don't know anyone else in the Charlotte, NC area with a coupe that might be able to do it. If there is anyone around here, and you have a couple free hours to fly with my instructor that could be a big help. Thanks again, --mitch Greg Bullough wrote: > > > > At 09:42 PM 12/6/01 -0500, Mitch Hines wrote: > I am a student pilot > and a first time aircraft owner. Last week I bought a '65 Alon Aircoupe > A-2 > Wow. Good choice! > > after lurking around > this newsgroup and visting the various 'Coupe websites for the last > couple of years. > The web has really revived interest in our marque. > > I hope to > transistion from the rented 172's to my new Aircoupe this week > > Amen. It will be interesting. The coupe, in all its forms, is a far more > sensitive > beast than the 172 is, and you will have to become a more gentle pilot. > It also > does student-ish things, like steep turns so very well. No flaps, so you > will have > to plan your approaches. Even if you have rudder pedals, slips to lose > altitude > are kinda ineffective. And don't get down to that Cessna-esque 70 or 75 > MPH > on final. At first, approaching at 80 or 85 will seem fast. But you will > realize > that it is actually easier because the Coupes control better and you > don't hang > there like a dirigible on final, waiting for something to go > wrong... > > (or next, go to get > my instructor checked out in the Aircoupe first). > > How do you plan to do that? Can he or she fly with an experienced > Ercoupe > > pilot in your area? You can't really go 'by the book' on these birds, > especially > on approach. The approach numbers tend to be way too low, putting you > in > a situation where it is all too easy to drop the airplane in HARD. More > > Ercoupes and Aircoupes die this way... > > 172s fly on wings. > > Aircoupes fly on engines. > > Speed is your friend. Start fast and work yourself slower, but never > slower > than 75MPH on final (short field). > > In > anticipation of moving over to the Aircoupe, during last weeks ground > school on flight planning, my instructor pointed out that the POH for > the > Alon (which is much thinner that the POH out of the Cessna) does not > have > a "Time,Fuel, and Distance to Climb" chart like the POH for > 172. I was wondering if anyone had such a chart for an Alon A-2 > with the standard C-90 that they could share. > Thank god it doesn't, because such things are useless enough in a 172. > How often > do you duplicate the conditions in the chart? Besides, airplane > manufacturers lie. > A lot. Or they use super-human test pilots whose performance you or I > will never > duplicate. > > In a Coupe, a little weight change is a much larger part of the > percentage, and > you have only 75-100HP, not 150. So a bit of weight makes a bigger > difference in > rate of climb for given fuel burn. It's a lot safer to be > super-pessimistic. Figure you > can only do 400FPM in the Alon, and assume you'll be burning maybe > 7GPH > doing it. You'll never run out of gas that way. Look, just be a hopeless > pessimist > until you really know YOUR plane. To hell with the charts which too > often > only > predict something that never really happens. > > > > > Mitch Hines N6369V ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
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