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This message was forwarded on behalf of Bob Branch. Please address
any responses to the mail list or directly to Bob at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Bob Branch
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 9:34
AM
To: Ed Burkhead
Subject: please post
I just wanted to thank everyone on the ercoupe groups for
their wisdom, advice, guidance, and camaraderie I have experienced since owning
my ercoupe. As many of you know, I listed it on a banner ad on Barnstormers
about 2 weeks ago and it has now been sold. The problem was it was TOO useful.
My previous flying had ended in the late 80's due to a medical issue and I
was able to return to flying thru the sport pilot route. After getting my
private ticket I went directly to my complex, instrument, and multi instrument
ratings. When I stopped flying I owned a piper seneca light twin. Essentially I
flew everywhere IFR, high and fast. I never did much vfr flying. So I wasn't
sure an airplane would really be useful in the sport pilot mode. I
decided to find out in the ercoupe.
Well, vacations to Maine, trips to Oshkosh, a few business
trips to the Chicago and Minneapolis areas.... turns out you can get somewhere
vfr at ercoupe rates! And with ALLOT less stress in flight planning and getting
there. But the usefulness brought us to wanting to visit our daughter in
One of the things I have tried to convey in my occasional
postings is that the ercoupe is no longer viewed as a $10K orphan of aviation.
I know many of us have found its economy one of the joys of the ercoupe. And it
has remained hidden in value. But that is no longer the case. With sport pilot
planes now all pretty much over $100K in the air, and don't believe a single
one of those $45 to $65 K come on ads, when you price em in the air the way you
will fly em they are all now in the $100K and north range, the full value of
the capability of the ercoupe is being factored into the marketplace. I
will not relate the final sale details of my plane as that would violate the
purchaser's privacy and the reasons I had for the sale. I can relate however,
that I had 7 offers in the $30K plus range. Had I decided to let people bid
against each other the price of my plane would have pushed $40K. I had a number
of full price higher offers after I declared the plane sold that were
substantially over my asking price.
I have two purposes in relating this. First is that you can
now purchase an ercoupe, invest money in it and restore it to a very nice level
and regain the money invested in it at sale. This I do not believe was the case
prior to the sport pilot rule. This can make for some the investment
reasonable. It was my belief when I sought to purchase and ercoupe and it
proved the case. Secondly, the sale values of ercoupes need to be accurately
reported. An important issue for purchasers as they look at the ercoupe market
in an escalating value market will be the ability to have reasonable financing
options. Over the last 3 years I have spoken often with the folks at Red River
State Bank who finance allot of general aviation aircraft each year at
The desire of sport pilot purchasers for ercoupes is going
to drive the value into the $40 K range in a year and probably into the $50 K
range in a few years. You may think I am just nuts, but if you have your ticket
and your medical you just cannot appreciate the sport pilot concept yet and its
value to a pilot who has lost the ability to get a 3rd class medical and had flying
jerked away from him. Niether the FAA nor the EAA appreciated this when the
rule was developed and EAA is just beginning to. They had both viewed it as a
new entry point concept. The reality at least in the short (3 to 5 year run)
has been that numbers wise it is numbers wise primarily a return to flying
route. A year and a half before it became law, I was just surfing the net late
one Sunday night. I stumbled somehow onto the EAA web site. I was not looking
for it or even thinking about flying. It had not been a part of my life for
almost 20 years. When I saw what was happening, I was so stunned I did not
sleep the entire night just at the thought that I might, just might be able to
fly again. I could barely explain it to my wife the next morning without
my voice breaking. When sport pilot passed I dropped everything two weeks later
and drove to
It turned out I walked right up to him. He was with the FAA.
I don't remember his name, didn't matter. He was in the sport pilot tent and
handing out the blurbs that were just explaining the few conditions of the
rule, just PR. A big crowd was around him, but he sounded like he knew what was
going on. I waited almost an hour for the crowd to clear and when he was about
to take a break I spoke with him and asked if there was anything yet about the
handling requirements for the aircraft to pass. He at first gave the official
for publication version: "consensus standards... yet to be developed....
etc." I probed further though saying, "yea, but somebody's got
to know where its going... its too far along." Finally, he quietly
led me to a corner of the tent, still no one else around. He pulled a briefcase
out from under his coat and handed me a thick binder. He very softly said:
"Well, I'm on the consensus committee. This is the working document if
you'd like to read it." The first person I walked up to at the huge
conglomeration of people that is
Do not value short the desire of pilots who have had the sky
pulled from their grasp. If anything their desire to return to the sky may well
be considerably greater than the value many who still have their tickets place
on the privelege. The ercoupe is the only modern tricycle plane that qualifies
for sport pilot prior to the rule. Egos can say what they want about tail
draggers, and yes I love em, but its just a fact they are not as safe, never
have been and never will be. Its value is only going to increase, and as you
have seen by the many articles in the last 2 years in the aviation press on the
plane, the world has found the ercoupe.
If in my travels I hear a radio call from an ercoupe, expect
a hello from me. Man, I'm gonna miss those landings!
Keep the greasy side down,
bob branch
formerly N99891
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