Dan Hall wrote this. Ercoupe Owner Club Region 7 acting Director 1947 Ercoupe 415CD N3968H @ CNO (BS Aeronautics, PPSEL, CPSEL, Instrument rated, tail wheel, and 1,300+ hours in Ercoupes)
With regard to cross wind landing it would be prudent to be aware of and perhaps even pass along the following information to AC's normally well informed readership; The Ercoupe’s crosswind landings are engineering-based! Fred Weick, owner of the patent on the tricycle landing gear and later Chief of Design at Piper, carefully developed and extensively researched landing with the tricycle gear. The landing gear is based upon the principal that the center of mass is in front of the (fixed and non-swiveling) main gear. Since the nose gear (like all tricycle gear planes) is free to turn, the side loads on the main gear introduce a turning force when the plane is landed in the crab. The nose wheel turns and offers no side-force so the plane simply turns to line up with the direction of motion – as designed by a superior engineer. The side forces are not enormous. An egg in a saucer in the pilot’s lap will stay in the saucer. This excellently designed landing system is a key to the Ercoupe’s ability to handle strong, direct crosswinds. Many Ercoupe owners enjoy taunting local flight schools by flying touch and goes when the crosswinds are strong on beautiful Saturdays. It’s fun, waving with a hand raised through the convertible canopy at the grounded students and CFIs as we do landings even with crosswind components greater than 25 knots. ************** One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)
