And check the wind IMMEDIATELY before takeoff. We live on a 2600 ft grass strip. There is a county road crossing just past the south end and was an old barn about 50 yards directly in line on the south end. A neighbor had an A36 Bonanza (later model, under 1000hr, $250,000 airplane). We are about 30 miles from Bush's compound in Crawford (HOT TEXAS SUMMERS) and when he is in town you must file a IFR flight plan to takeoff. Neighbor filed flight plan, taxied to the north end of the runway to take off into the wind, temp close to 100 degrees, requested take off clearance. Was held for over 30 minutes. He had wife, baggage and full fuel, headed for vacation. Finally got clearance, started takeoff roll, couldn't get altitude but kept pushing it. Crossed the road at about 2 ft altitude, just missing a pickup and went right thru the barn. Lucikily no serious injuries to him or his wife, totaled the plane. Wind had ben gusting at about 20 knots and HAD SHIFTED 180 DEGREES while he was on hold. With the somewhat marginal takeoff performance of Ercoupes, this is something to keep in mind. Loss of the barn was a plus for our Ercoupes. Bill
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:45:43 -0500Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] Re: Stalls I wrote: > I once got engine silence at extreme climb angle like > Frank did. It was also with an extreme climb prop,… > No sweat unless you’re trying to clear trees after a > too-short takeoff run. John Cooper wrote: > At the risk of pointing out the obvious, the deck angle required > to attain “engine silence” puts you so far behind the power > curve that it’s not the right technique for clearing the trees in > the first place. > > With any “luck” the prop will stop before you hit the trees… ;) <Dark chuckles> because you are exactly, absolutely right! Thank you, John. To clear the trees on a too short takeoff, you’d better be a lot smarter than to be pulling up too much in an attempt. “Attempts” are for dummies. Doing it right and knowing you’ve got it right with extra margins is the only way to go. There are generally options such as using best angle of climb (and knowing what it is from your testing program), lightening the plane, using the other runway or waiting till the cool temps of the next morning. JMHO Ed (the chicken hawk) _________________________________________________________________ Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger. http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_messenger_video_042008
