Dan:
In response to your request for input, I read this current
post as well as opinions given in the two links you provided.
It’s clear that Paul
Berge has a bias against the Ercoupe but I would classify his inaccuracies as
minor. It’s also clear that you have a bias toward
the Ercoupe and I would suggest that the defensive tone of your response did
little to alter any opinion. Your follow
up is repetitive. The Ercoupe is not as
bad as Paul reports nor as good as we believe.
It’s just an airplane. Whenever I
hear myself or others speak of the Ercoupe
as some sort of shrine to the airplane gods, I think back to my first Ercoupe
adventure:
My son and I flew to the College Park Convention and as part
of that, we toured the factory where most of our airplanes were made. While
waiting in line, I struck up a
conversation with the woman next to me who turned out to be Fred Weicks
daughter. I’m sorry that I can’t
remember her name but she was real tall and real nice. The line was long so we
talked a whole bunch
and when the conversation turned to her flight training, I asked if she learned
to fly in an Ercoupe. She gave me a funny
look and said oh no, my father insisted that I learn to fly in something with
rudder pedals! I love Ercoupes, and I
think Fred Weick was a brilliant engineer, but I’m not sure that he shared the
same reverence for the Ercoupe that we do.
To my mind, the folks that fly these things are more
important than the airplane and that’s the key to ambassadorship. The best way
to change opinions about this
misunderstood aircraft is simply by being good citizen-pilots. There are so
many examples: All the folks that give eagle flights, Syd leading flights
into Oshkosh
and Sun & Fun, Lynn Nelson flying
his grandson around the country and taking the time to write a crazy good log
of the adventure, Linda flying into
LAX. This is where the battle is won. In
terms of good press, the most wonderful thing about the Ercoupe is how it has
allowed folks to fly that can’t use their legs so well or don’t have legs.
That video telling the story of how an Ercoupe
was modified to allow Kim Blackseth to fly is awesome. Kim is a C-6
quadriplegic and for motivation,
I keep a picture in my shop of Kim being lowered into that airplane by his
friends
using some fabricated sling.
Our cause is better served by scaling back our sensitivity
to criticism. Brent suggests that we
have lost our sense of humor and he may be on to something. Mine is not
completely gone though. Although those two PETA vignettes that appear
on the Hanger Flying Theater site were fundamentally mean spirited, I was able
to see the humor and I did in fact laugh. (yikes)
I hope that I have
not hurt your feelings Dan. It’s not my
intent and you can take comfort in the fact that no one on this list will share
this view and I suspect a summons from the Ercoupe tribunal is forthcoming
where I will be found guilty of heresy and burned at the stake.
My apologies for such a long post.
Cheers,
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 1:49 am
Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Ercoupe Wars, news from the front !!
Hey ya'll....I'm
considering responding to the comments on Paul
Berge blog, and Brent's comments in particular. IF you've read
Brent's comments and Jason's rebuttal on the blog, I'd appreciate your thoughts
on this draft reply below.
Here's the link to the Blog site;
http://bergeflyingtheater.blogspot.com/
Here's the link to the comments (read Bent &
Jason's comments - I'm mainly replying to those);
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9129460132495073333&postID=2168211543851538132
Dan Hall
N3968H
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Jason, thank you for your support and
comments. I agree strongly with your posts regarding the Ercoupe.
Contrary to Brent's insinuations, my letter not
claim that the Ercoupe was best or that it should have won; and that was not
the
reason I wrote the letter. However Jason's comments hit the
nail on the head.
Ercoupe owner are collectively extremely tired of
60+ years of often snide & belittling comments about the Ercoupe, often
based on ignorance (and / or pride & arrogance).
With that thought firmly in mind, I'd like to
re-fresh Bent's memory with the following "objective" quotes taken directly
from Mr. Berge's article;
"Amazingly it will straighten itself out....the way
a dead cow straightens out when dropped off a moving truck."
"The Ercoupe, top, is an acquired taste savored by
owners who can do without rudder pedals. Crosswind landings are faith-based
flying."
"The flight experience is best described as quirky,
especially in cross winds, it has no rudder pedals."
"If you have lazy feet, the 75 HP Ercoupe 415C may
be for you..."
"These legacy LSA's are not terribly comfortable,
and if you can't fly coordinated and learn to use your feet they'll be neither
pleasant nor kind, especially on the runway." (Ercoupes are pleasant &
kind)
"(....doing 95 MPH)" (try
100-108)
"One broke up in flight due to center section
corrosion." (Nope)
"Ercoupe 415C is LSA eligible..." (and the
415CD??)
“We can't say we're crazy about this
plane...." (Ah, honesty!)
"Last pick is the Ercoupe. They aren't cheap and,
in our view, lack the charm of the tail draggers which except for the cub, are
all bargain for beginner or lingering pilots."
Here Mr. Berge comes out and most clearly his own
obvious personal subjective bias FOR tail draggers and their "charm", and
against the tricycle gear Ercoupe.
Let's see; 4 rag & tube tail-draggers, one all
metal tricycle gear model, and the only tricycle gear model comes in dead last
in the comparison with the commentary noted above.
Brent, do you honestly NOT see a pattern
here???
Paul Berge clearly prefers rag & tube tail
draggers, and I don't begrudge him that - all of the planes tested are fun
little birds to fly.
However I and MANY Ercoupe owners certainly DO take
GREAT exception to the comments he chose to use to describe the
Ercoupe in the Aviation Consumer. Those comments carry a strong
personal bias and have no place in a national publication like AC.
WHERE were the genuinely objective
comments about the Ercoupes obvious advantages, such as;
* Tri-cycle gear for
stable landing & ground handling.
* Superior cross wind landing
capabilities.
* Effective / good brakes
* Stall resistant and spin
proof.
* Responsive full span ailerons.
* Electrical system.
*
Excellent visibility. This is a great safety feature for avoiding mid-air
collisions!
* Windows down "open cockpit" flying experience!
* Higher
speed cruise than other LSAs with the same engine
* Mostly metal or all metal
construction.
* Very simple systems: no fuel tank switching and no
flaps.
Do you still wonder why I and may other
Ercoupe owners lost our collective sense of humor after (re) reading the quotes
from the article???
While I have tail wheel experience and my next
airplane may be an RV-4, for the record; I take far dimmer view
of (tail wheel) snobs than Mr. Berge takes of
Ercoupes.
If & when the time comes for my next airplane
I'm quite sure that I'll miss my 60 year old classic Ercoupe, and frankly would
never give up the Coupe if I could afford to keep two planes.
I just hope I don't regret the day the keys
to my lovely classic Coupe are handed over to it's next 'care taker' (as
virtually all former Ercoupe owners have lamented to me over the years).
The Ercoupe is a unique and special gem of a
classic flying machine. The Ercoupe deserves just as
much respect as the rag & tube tail draggers (more IMHO),
and that sir, is the point !!!!!
Dan Hall
Ercoupe
415CD
N3968H
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