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Chris, I dearly love Coupes, but they are 60 year old technology. Take note of the performance of each model. Also, a lot of these have included many of the technologies pioneered by Fred Weick. In 1991, just after Skip asked me to be editor for Coupe Capers at the '91 National Convention, I sat down with Fred for an interview. I asked him something about being proud that the planes were still flying after all these years. Fred told me he never expected that people would want to fly Ercoupes after 10 years. He thought we'd be flying more advanced designs. When they designed the Coupes, they never designed them for more than 10 years use. The trouble came in that the FAA certification process froze development so Coupes stayed somewhat competitive for 50 years. If Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft rules come into effect, that stasis is over and a lot of current kit designers are ready. To see what you'd be competing with in the market, do a Google for "light sport aircraft such as: Zenith STOL CH 701, ZODIAC CH 601, ZODIAC XL Vo = 45 kts, Vs1 = 39 kts, cruise/max-level-speed = 115 kts (132 mph); range (no reserve) 650 mi, rate of climb 980 fpm http://www.zenithair.com/news/sport-pilot.html near the bottom of the page Jabiru J250 http://www.zenithair.com/news/sport-pilot.html Vo = 42 kts, cruise/max-level-speed = 115 kts (132 mph) Pelican Sport 600 - specifications Vo = 39 kts, max/cruise 132, climb 1350 fpm, take-off ground run 300-400 ft. fuel consumption (65% - 110 kts) 4.1 gph http://www.ultravia.ca/specs&performance_600.htm And there are dozens of others, many ready to sell. You can take some of those specs with a grain of salt if you want, but remember that most of those are really a faster plane with the speed limited by a climb prop. The key question is how much the manufacturers will have to set aside for insurance because of contingency fee trial lawyers - hence, what's the price? I do love Coupes, but I really don't think that 1939 aerodynamics and construction technology and materials can compete with their 2004 equivalents. Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] (remove the QQQ) -----Original Message----- From: Chris Trent [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 4:28 PM To: Ercoupe Flyin Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Ercoupe assembly line. Just as a curiosity, How many of you would be interested in restarting ERCO and the Ercoupe Assembly Line? -Chris ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
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