Attn: Letters to the Editor Dear Editor,
I have just received a solicitation to subscribe to Aviation Consumer...it came about 2 days after your article on Legacy LSA's was forwarded to me. That article contained a hatchet job on Ercoupes, full of false innuendo or outright false statements. Is this typical of Aviation Consumer? If not, sir, where were your fact- checkers?!?! Before I conclude that the author's irresponsible & biased writing reflects your editorial policy, I would like to give you an opportunity to show a potential new subscriber how fair-minded Aviation Consumer can be. I understand something might occasionally slip by an overworked editor -- we're all human and mistakes happen -- but how they are dealt with afterward is the mark of professionalism. To fully refute a misrepresentation often takes more space than the original took, and I understand that you have limited space... but to set right the wrong that was done, please consider printing the full refutations that you will doubtless be receiving from others. Herewith just a few corrections your fact-checkers should have told you: 1. The article mockingly doubted the spin-proof design. Fact: the Ercoupe is *certificated* as "characteristically incapable of spinning" -- and bears a panel placard stating so. (And by the way, stalls in an Ercoupe are non-events: it was designed so that even when the wing root stalls, the rest of the wing keeps flying.) Considering that the writer cites "stall/spin incidents" as one of two "killer accident trends in legacy taildraggers," wouldn't you think it significant that the Ercoupe does not have that vulnerability? 2. His statements that "Flight experience can best be described as 'quirky,' especially in crosswinds," and "Crosswind landings are faith-based flying," most clearly reveal the writer's ignorance of Ercoupes. Fred Weick designed the 'Coupe to be simple, stable & safe, and they are renowned for being able to land in crosswinds that keep other planes hangared. For example, after just about an hour's crosswind instruction, my CFI approved me landing my 415-C in up to 20 kt crosswinds -- while he, with 30+ years flying & teaching experience, limits his Cessna to 15 kt crosswinds. And if your writer had done his research, he'd have seen this video of Dan Hall's 415-CD landing at Flabob in a direct crosswind of 20 gusting 30: http:// youtube.com/watch?v=4Ob7toBLP2I. Can the other Legacy-LSA's match that? 3. Most importantly, the marketplace of aviation consumers has already voted with their dollars in favor of Ercoupes, whose price steadily rises impressively, adding "good investment" to its list of virtues. (Your writer owns a Champ. Could investment jealousy be behind his hatchet job?) His style -- not to mention his innuendos -- might be at home in a throw-away rag's movie reviews, but it is not worthy of an objective aviation consumer magazine. Respectfully submitted, Linda T. Abrams Los Angeles
