Ed Olds asked: > what are the preferred methods for short and soft > field takeoffs and landings?
Takeoff procedures are about identical to the Cessna or Piper in which you learned to fly. On landings, hold the nose wheel off during the initial gear touchdown while the airplane is turning to line up with the direction of motion. Hold the nose-gear-control very lightly and allow it to turn left-right freely. Two-control landing procedures really don't differ significantly from other planes except 1. You land in a crab 2. Don't let yourself get too slow into the high sink-rate regime. Three-control landing procedures, ditto, except: 1a. Crosswind landings up to around 15 mph, you can choose to land one-wing-low, lined up with the runway OR in the crab 1b. Crosswind landings over 15 mph, you can do a conventional airplane combo maneuver, approaching one-wing-low-with-a-crab and kicking out the crab and wing low at the last instant OR, just land it in a crab like any self-respecting Coupe (easier, I found). 2. Ditto. I think that about covers it. Wish I could tell you technically knowledgeable things about fabric wing care. I just washed mine with running water and an old rag or soft brush, rarely using soap even on bugs. Pledge is reputed to be good on leading-edge bugs but I mostly just used the running water and elbow grease. I usually got my tennis shoes wet. Ed Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe/index.htm East Peoria, Illinois ed -at- edbur???khead.??com (remove the ? marks and change -at- to @)
