Carl
I am kind of in the same boat as you have a couple of thousand hrs but
new to the coupe-bought mine last June- a good airplane which I find
has some issues not the least of which is it is underpowered compared
to other birds such as the 172 or PA 28s. But keep in mind the Ercoupes
especialy the charlie model has the same power as many of its early
post war contempories.First kudos for aborting the takeoff when the
aircraft did not feel right. Better to be on the ground trying to
figure it out than wrapped up in a ball. My bird is also a 75hp bird (I
think I need to look at the carb jet at annual) but I don't have any
trouble getting about 2200 static rpm. With these old birds you can't
be sure of the accuracy of the airspeed unless the gauge and system
have been recently checked but with my airplane I rotate about 60 and
she lifts off about 80 speeds which seem high for a coupe but what it
is is what it is. In the air(full gross) I can get it down to about 65
before it sinks off. No you can't stall them in the traditional sense
they just sink. My airplane seems to have a good climb out even at
full gross. At 2300 I indicate about 105mph. I don't know where you
live but I would suggest that you go to the Ercoupe owners site and see
if you can find a CFI who is familiar with the coupe. I have a close
friend who is a retired airline pilot-and CFI-II with something over
25000 hrs and he got an hour or two of coupe instruction before he
ferried my plane from Maine. They are a bit different. Very easy
aircraft to drive around the air but landing and takeoff requires
somewhat of a different mindset and technique. As for takeoff it is
really important to keep the nosewheel on the ground -especially in a
xwind-untill the bird has flying speed. I learned quick that if you
rotate early the bird just wants to veer off. A bit scarry to say the
least. The weathervaining on takeoff-climb out- also is unusual untill
you get used to it. Frankly I think the published #s were created more
to market the airplane than what the airplane does. One thing you don't
want to do with this aircraft is get behind the powercurve the sink
rate is unreal. I have alot of tripacer time which sank like a stone
poweroff but I think the coupe is worse. One thing a properly rigged
coupe will not float. Once its on the ground it stays there. The
other thing I would recommend is that you get the 1320lb STC. The STC
not only increases the gross to 1320 but makes the trim a bit more
effective. I am sure there will be a bunch of guys on the site- who are
much more experienced than me with coupes- who can give you a lot of
good advice but be patient and don't push it. Accept the fact that
coupes are underpowered aircraft and accept it. The up side is that
there a bunch of fun and about as cheap to fly (fuelwise) as any
certified airplane.
