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I did not have a problem with it, but I don't know that I'm typical of most disabled folk. I have no paralysis, and can actually still walk...a little. I don't have a lot of strength in my legs, and even less endurance. My legs get very weak very quickly. When I was training I wasn't using hand controls, but decided to get them because I was confident that if I ever need to kick hard rudder that I could. As for getting into the 'coupe, what I did was crawl up the wing, on my hands & knees, then use my hands on the side rail to pull myself up to a standing position. Next, as I held on to the fore & aft canopy sections, I stepped over onto the seat. On other low wing airplanes, like Piper, I just slide up the wing on my butt, and then slide into the seat. Mike -----Original Message----- From: Greg Bullough [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 8:09 AM To: Mike Dean; [email protected] Subject: Re: FW: [COUPERS-FLYIN] disabled pilots and CBS News Mike, what's your opinion on the Ercoupe ingress-egress issue for people with no or limited mobility in their legs? I've had a fellow in my plane who has issues similar to a polio survivor, and in spite of his herculean arm strength, in and out was really hard. The geometry just made it hard for him to find a surface to push against. The wing-walks suddenly seemed very narrow. He ended up sort of having to flop in, nearly braining himself, then struggle to get his legs in and turned around. I've seen the photos of the door conversions, but I bet it would be hard to get one approved now. I mean, what holds the airplane together? There's no upper cabin structure. What about the side window? Greg ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
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