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John,
My first inclination is to agree with Percy that your
chances resemble the proverbial roasting snowball.
The change from C or CD to the 1400 lb. D is specified
in the aircraft type certificate Aircraft Specification A-787. That has the
force of law and it makes this change easy and automatic for us. We don't need
FAA approval - the approval has already been given. The type certificates are
available at:
http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe/index.htm
The type certificate does NOT make allowance for a
change to anything other than 1400 lb. gross weight.
Having said that, here are some options you could look
into.
1. Hire
an aeronautical engineer with credentials. Pay him to do an analysis with mathematics
and graphs and whatever to PROVE that if the airframe can handle an upgrade to
1400 lb., it's perfectly safe to fly it at 1320 lb. (You may have to use the 9°
elevator up travel since that’s very well documented and researched.)
2. Using
your engineering analysis, request a general purpose STC.
3. If
you get the STC, please sell rights to use it to others in need for a token
amount to defray your expenses and only make a little bit of money. (You’d
deserve some profit for the risk and fuss, after all.)
I hope you try it. I hope you succeed. If I’m
ever to go back to flying a Coupe, I’ll need this STC.
Good luck,
Ed Burkhead
http://edburkhead.com
ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @
and remove "???")
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