I have to say that it's been too long to remain status quo. One thing that I've learned from being in business for myself is that if something doesn't work, make some changes. My personal opinion is that there needs to be some housecleaning in the EOC. I'm afraid that a little change, such as the addition of a boardmember isn't going to help much, it'll just be one more frustrated person.
----- Original Message ----- From: Mark H. To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 9:31 PM Subject: Ercoupe Club Was:Re: [ercoupe-tech] Re: c,cd,c/d There is merit in what everyone has said. But as far as dealing with the Faa and firing up the club, may be a new board member could be added to the current club? His main job could be government afairs. And try and move us forward. --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "AJ DeMarzo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's too bad that you feel that way. Regardless of the job their doing they need your support - everyone's support. With that I will shamefully say that I'm not a member for the very same reasons. Pot asking the kettle not to get black! But logic tells me not to advocate starting the International Ercoupe Association because at this time splitting up the membership is not wise, unless of course a big majority of the membership thinks it's necessary. Even then, democratically taking over the current club would still benefit more. What is needed to be done is to rally the members, get them enthused about ownership and convince them to participate. I echo your sentiments about the rag, most people look at it for the ads and it could be so much more. One of the first thing a smart prospect does before buying that "new" aircraft is to join the type club. This gives them a primer on what ownership would mean, support, availability and activities. Let's face it. We're mostly flying our Ercoupes for fun. Nowadays they're not the cross country machines they were designed to be in the 40's. > > VANSAIRFORCE was started by my friend and neighbor Doug Reeves when he wanted to promote ownership and learn more about the RV6 he eventually finished. It turned out to be a great page, even allowing Doug to quit his real job and pursue his other hobby as a professional photographer. Very inspiring! The "members" of Van's Air Force are it's greatest asset and there should be no reason that the members of an Ercoupe group couldn't be the same. Hartmut and I have discussed launching a web something with everything available and it looks like he's started doing something. Believe me when I tell you that there is more publishable material out there than you can think of! > > Let's see what the future brings and what the owners really want. Could be a lot of fun. And thanks to all for those off list emails, they're pretty inspiring! > > Al DeMarzo > Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page - Free and Easy > http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 8:09 PM > Subject: Ercoupe Club Was:Re: [ercoupe-tech] Re: c,cd,c/d > > > Al, > > I somewhat share your feelings about the current owner's club. In fact, I just got a renewal notice and I don't think I am going to renew the membership. From my perspective, the only benefit that I see out of belonging to the club is the monthly newsletter, and to be honest, I can usually read everything in the newsletter that is of interest to me in about 3 minutes per copy. With all of the people restoring, rebuilding and upgrading these planes, I don't know why there isn't an article in there every month about a restoration, rebuild or upgrade project. I have sent in an article or two over the years, and they have been published, but it's pretty obvious that nobody is going out and soliciting any technical material for the newsletters. Lately there have been reprints of articles pertaining to insurance issues or legalities, that while useful, are not related specifically to the Ercoupe/Aircoupe. I consider these articles to be "filler material" in a type-specific newsletter, and they rate just about one step above the advertisements that usually fill about 4 pages of the newsletter. I can read all of that generic stuff online or in the EAA, AOPA, Flying, and Flight Training magazines that I get. (Of course, EAA has recently started taking up space in Sport Aviation (emphasis added) to let us know which new Very Light Jets are being brought to market, and how fast the top of the line Mooney's are. What either of these have to do with Sport Aviation is beyond me.) > > I would love to see the existing club, or a new club, publish a better newsletter, conduct fly-ins, promote the airplane, and be more proactive. I don't mean to slam the existing newsletter or club management. I've been involved in publishing a couple of newsletters for work, and it's not a trivial task. Twisting people's arms to get them to contribute articles can be a job in itself. It also takes lots of dedication and commitment to publish a newsletter month after month, especially after the novelty of it wears off. And to EOC's credit, Coupe Capers has been published for many, many years. > > It would be interesting to hear what the others on this mailing list think about the club and the newsletter. Make the old one better? Start from scratch? Leave it all as is? What do you think? Maybe what we really need is a really good Coupe website like the RV crowd has at www.vansairforce.com. This website has so much to offer that I read it weekly, and I don't even have an RV. Of course there are lots more RV's than Coupes out there. > > > Best Regards, > > Wayne DelRossi > Alon N5618F > Hours logged since restoration: 347.5 > > "Nobody has ever scientifically proven that life is supposed to be serious." > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------- ---------- > See AOL's top rated recipes and easy ways to stay in shape for winter. >
