Bill,
Very good analysis.
Here are a few comments, mostly to emphasize some of your points:
> It was in the middle of the pack for ground loops.
I think that the tail-low, crosswind landing, wing lift loss of directional
control accounts for 90% plus of these "ground loop" accidents. The FAA
really didn't have a proper category to count this kind of accident so they
tossed them into this bin.
Now, with the tails up to specs and with proper attention to the issue, I've
simply stopped hearing about accidents where there was loss of control
during crosswind landings resulting in damage.
This is a far cry from 1991 when the issue was first being widely
disseminated along with Bill Coons's spacer form 337.
> Stall is fascinating, because the Ercoupe does not stall in
> normal flight. Apparently someone managed a whip-stall
> while landing resulting in an accident, yet even so the
> Ercoupe edged out the 150 in this category.
The FAA did, I've heard, lump some low airspeed, mushing accidents into the
stall bin and some into hard landings. Those lumped in "stalls" were
certainly mislabeled.
And, as Bill says, this is a training issue.
The Ercoupe's record in many of the categories does, I agree, reflect low
competence of some of the Coupe pilots and inadequate training. That is
largely due to its advertising/marketing which claimed that less competence
is needed. In an interview, Fred Weick told me he had misjudged the
relative importance to safety of pilot judgment versus aircraft design.
In addition, due to the low population density of Coupes and the fact that
our flying technique differences are unique means there are few CFIs who are
really competent to teach those differences.
My own flight instructor refused to give me any instruction in the Coupe I
bought right at the end of my private pilot lessons. He told me, "Just go
fly, you'll do fine." And, he was mostly right.
But, if I hadn't gone to the library and photocopied every Coupe article
about Ercoupes ever written and read them over and over, I would have missed
a number of very important Coupe flying techniques.
I'm inclined to urge new Coupe pilots and CFIs who are going to teach in
Coupes to go find a good Coupe pilot and learn about the Coupe's special
differences. And, they should read about those differences, too. Finally,
we've distilled some of that information into articles on my Coupe web page,
http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe/ and the Ercoupe Owners Club's website,
http://ercoupe.org <http://ercoupe.org/>
Are the Coupes more dangerous as aircraft than other light aircraft? I'm
sure they are not.
Is our training for Coupe pilots inadequate? Yes, but it's gotten
significantly better over the last 30 years.
Are we still drawing an overly large percentage of yahoos, idiots and others
with poor judgment and skills? Yes, but much less than 30, 40 or 50 years
ago.
If we, as pilots, train properly and fly with good judgment, I think the
Coupes are in the safest 10%-20% of light aircraft for flying safety.
Ed
