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Robert,
you almost have it correct.... Weick designed the Ercoupe to land in a
crosswind safely.. He accomplished this by design...The coupe is in a no lift
position when sitting on the ground with the nose gear compressed. It will not
fly in this position as the wings are in a no lift/negative lift position.
However, many coupes are not rigged as designed, and the wings are in a
positive angle of attack, due to worn/compressed rubber doughnuts, or
compressed discs in the main landing gear. This allows the tail to be in a
lower position than the design calls for...making the wings attain a positive
angle of attack, instead of the negative angle as designed.
With proper rigging,,,,(level at the window ledges)...the coupe automatically
quits flying when the nose gear compresses, and is certified to safely land in
crosswind components of 25 mph.....
Some folks have experienced safe crosswind landing exceeding this
component....I have.....but not until I installed the spacers in the MLG to
rasie the tail to its proper attitude ( level at window sills); as is necessary
if one has installed the double fork nose gear, which is about 2 inches longer
than the original single fork assy.
When landing as slow as possible in a crab, wings level and tracking the
center line, when the coupe touches down, the mass of the coupe (which is
forward of the main gear), causes the Coupe to turn in the direction of
track...then as the nose gear compresses, the wings attain a negative angle of
attack and quit flying. Simply drive the coupe to the parking area.
With an improper tail height..( not level on the window ledges), the up wind
wing will rise, as the wings are still at a positive angle of attack and still
flying......Interesting, the upper wing can rise about 20 feet before the
downwind wing touches the ground. So, in this condition, quick application of
the brakes will slow the coupe below flying speed, and the wing will now come
down. Exciting, but not a safe situation....especialy when all that is needed
is a proper Main Landing gear doughnut/spacer adjustment to make the Coupe meet
design specifications...not flyable in a negative angle of attack..ie: level at
the window ledges when in a static position.....as Fred Weick designed. Forney
introduced the double fork nose gear, along with the Belleville spring discs,
which attained the proper attitude.
Somehow, sometimes, the double fork gear has been approved for installation
in earlier coupes without requiring the Belleville springs, or spacers under
the original rubber doughnuts. See Forney adv. on the installation of a double
fork gear, requiring the belleville springs .on page 318 in "The Ercoupe, A
Touch of Class" ....quote: "Raises tail to proper level".
Bill Coons' solution of installing spacers in the rubber doughnut MLG systems
to attain the proper static attitude is a satisfactory, inexpensive, and an FAA
approved solution, which places the coupe back into the design attitude.
I understand that Boeing utilized Ercoupes in training their pilots to land
DC -8s in a cross wind, ....as the DC8 could not land wing low...which would
drag off the wing mounted engines.
Thanks Bill.
Fly Safe - Have Fun
Harry Francis
Elliston, VA
N93530
robertbartunek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
--- In [email protected], Hartmut Beil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>I think everyone is missing what the real danger is in crosswind
landings. When you watch the Lufthansa landing depicted on the news
and You Tube, the hairy part starts when the upwind wing comes up
just after the pilot tries to kick the crab out prior to touchdown.
The Ercoupe displays that same characteristic even when landing in a
crab because you must steer downwind after touchdown to keep the
aircraft from weathervaning further into the wind on landing rollout.
That means the right aileron goes down and the wing comes up. Don't
take my word for it, go out and make several takeoff and landings in
a real stout crosswind and see what happens.
>
> Folks.
>
> Last weekend we had a storm called Emma passing through Germany.
> It created abnormal situations even for the pilots of the big guys.
The following video shows the benefits of having practiced crabbed
cross wind landings.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O8CjKBsCEo
>
> Yes, the wing hits ground.
>
>
> Hartmut
> __________________________________________________________
> Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
> http://biggestloser.msn.com/
>
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