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Mike asked about basing at an airport with "a 2000' paved w/ no obstructions at 1000' MSL." Mike, I took my initial lessons in a C-152 and C-172 from that same field. We had 1800' of grass and dirt useable as the north end dropped off steeply into the fence and the south end became very rough and we only considered that an overrun area. (Though the FBO used it as part of his takeoff run in the Aero Commander.) There were no obstructions at all. Elevation was 985 feet. When the ground was wet, we only had 1,000' available because the right side of the runway was the only place the grass went all the way to the runway intersection. The crop duster who had used the field for a while had leaky plumbing and the grass wouldn't grow down the middle. I bought my Coupe the week I got my pilot's license. (See the story of my second flight.) http://ercoupe.org/Fly-in%20Reports/Gas-line-ice.htm In my Coupe, I had a climb prop so that helped with takeoffs. With that, I expected to be off the ground, accelerating in ground effect, by mid-field or a smidgeon past it off the grass field, even at 1400 lb. gross weight, even on an 80? day. I think you'll find that 2,000' paved with no obstructions is comfortable for takeoffs right up to 415-C legal gross weight in all conditions. Be sure you maintain your brakes well because unless you land very slowly and perfectly on the numbers, you'll NEED your brakes to get stopped in time. Paving doesn't give much drag and Coupes can roll wonderfully far on pavement with no power when you don't use the brakes. If the plane has Goodyear brakes, I'd change to another type. I had a Goodyear clip pop loose at about 35 mph on a runway at midfield and I was still going 20-30 mph when I got to the far end and made an emergency U turn into the weeds beside the runway, missing the fence. (20/20 hindsight tells me I could have zig-zagged down the length of the very wide runway to waste energy or put one or both wheels in the weeds/grass beside the runway to slow down - didn't think of that at the time but I got away with it with no damage.) I would not use a 7152 cruise prop from that field. A 7150 normal or a 7148 climb prop or a 7146 extreme climb prop will do well for you. (Though it doesn't climb extremely even with the 7146 "extreme" climb prop.) In other words, I wouldn't have any second thoughts about 2,000' paved runway at 1,000' msl with no obstructions except that I'd have good brakes and practice landing using them as little as possible. It'll be a good place to polish your skills. That's a great runway for a Coupe. Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com/ ed -at- edburkheadQQQ.com (change -at- and remove the QQQ) I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure if you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -----Original Message----- From: Nichols Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 7:14 PM To: ed Subject: Ercoupes Hi Ed, I'm a fellow Ercoupe owner and I was on ercoupers.com and was going through some of the tech list posts. I am trying to get some general info on safe runway length for an 415C (85 HP) and I saw a post stating that you flew out of an 1800' runway w/ the coupe. I flew out of a 3800' paved at sea level (east coast) with no problem at all w/ my coupe and I am a novice, so not much experience. I was wondering how comfortable you were w/ the 1800' and what MSL? I'm moving and one of the places I found has a 2000' paved w/ no obstructions at 1000' MSL. I am totally aware of the different flying skills from one person to another I was just looking for some general info. What are your thoughts? I also saw your home page, nice site. I have about 15 hours in a Challenger II long wing. What a gas that thing is! Thanks, Mike ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
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