----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
At 11:42 AM 3/17/2005, A J DeMarzo wrote: >For some reason Bonanzas and Ercoupes seem to go together. Could it be >that they recognize the tails of most other aircraft are wrong! I don't think so...even Beech recognized that the V-tail maybe wasn't the best idea they ever came up with. Back-seat passengers grow to hate it, the yaw-damper manufacturers love it, and it's been plagued with structural issues that override any aerodynamic (drag) gains. Other than the unique recognizability, it doesn't offer much on balance (pun maybe intended). Besides, a Bonanza is a Bonanza no matter what tailfeathers it wears. Whether you call it a 33, or a Debonair, or an A- or B- the darn things just FEEL right to the pilot. I'd say it's 'je ne sais quoi' but I know 'quoi.' It's a big airplane, but it doesn't feel big. Solid, but not big. It's fun to go out and do the maneuvers, like ground reference maneuvers that weren't fun in flight training. The forces are light on the controls and exquisitely harmonized. Then you come home, and it tends to really make you look good on landing. A lot like the Ercoupe. Except a lot more room. Prestige, space, and fun. Then there's the build quality. Makes everything else look like junk. Oh, yeah, there's the cracking Continental cases and jugs, but you could get those on some Pipers, and Cessnas too. Landing gear which, in the T34 variant, absorbs carrier landings. Look at the gear extension speed on everything else versus a Bonanza. You don't get in that situation where you're at pattern altitude and too fast to get to the airport and can't drop the gear very easily. The Bonanza was the plane I didn't want to love. (Remember, I grew up in a Comanche.) It was love at first flight. Greg ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>
