----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
It may be just how my Ercoupe is rigged, but it doesn't
seem to fly straight and level on its own.
If I get in perfect S&L flight and then let go
of the yoke... eventually (after 10-15 seconds) it slowly starts turning and
then into a downward spiral (usually right, but often enough to the left as
well).
Not challenging your method (which works great in the
Cessna 172's I rent... I often put them into non S&L attitudes and show
passengers how they right themselves), but making an observation... perhaps my
rigging is off?
------------------------------------------------------------
Jason J Ellingson
Jason J Ellingson
NC2273H
From: William R. Bayne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 3:41 PM
Subject: WRB Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Turn and Bank AKA Turn Coordinator
I agree that this instrument can save one's bacon in the average airplane, but the Ercoupe, et al, is NOT the "average" airplane. Fred Weick built into the Ercoupe a better way to handle the inadvertent "blunder into a cloud", and I have used it and found it to offer the same level of safety without any of the disadvantages listed above. This method is available to all who fly a properly maintained and rigged Ercoupe, etc. regardless of additional (optional) instrumentation.
1. Observe and comprehend you are "in the soup".
(In my case I was trying to climb through a "sucker hole" in a local cloud layer into known clear air above. The hole was closing as I climbed, so I turned tighter and tighter until my old AN gyro "tumbled" (which I had not been watching). Thusly, at precisely the time I lost all outside visual reference at full climb power and NEEDED reference to a gyro, mine was USELESS.)
2. Cut the throttle to 1900-2000 rpm so engine power does not tempt the plane to find aeronautical "balance" in an unknown or undesired attitude.
3. Stabilize airspeed/rpm such that the plane is neither climbing nor descending per the altimeter (if the plane is in cruise trim, note that speed for future use and memorize it).
4. Let the wheel/yoke go. The plane should assume a straight and level attitude.
5. With the tips of a thumb and forefinger, gently turn to a heading deemed safe or specifically desired (consult VFR chart?).
6. To climb above or descend below clouds, reset throttle for approximately 100 FPM as verified by watch and altimeter.
============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
