Carl, I own an 85HP 415C which is rated as a Sport Aircraft. I also get 2150 on takeoff and as soon as I reach 60 - 65 MPH I pull it off, level slightly and climb out at 70MPH indicated . I have over 5,000 hours flying many different aircraft and the Coupe is a dream to fly. You just have to learn it only has 75 -85 HP and so it takes longer to get it done. Gives you more time to enjoy flying.
Jim N3439H FDK ----- Original Message ----- From: profedihmc To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:33 PM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Newbie seeks direction... As a new Ercoupe 415C owner, I am just getting used to flying this plane after having flown almost exclusively in C172s and a Sky Ranger LSA that I owned. Today I was attempting to fly my plane with my instructor (it has a C75 engine), we were up against the 1260# load limit and attempting to take off into a quartering head wind blowing at about 10 kts. This was my first attempt at flying the plane. We have had day after day of bad weather, vacations, holidays, some repairs to the aircraft, etc., that has prevented me from flying it. Anyway, I firewalled it and got to 2150 rpm indicated with a groundspeed of about 69 mph indicated. I was told to rotate at about 58 and fly at about 65. Because I was only seeing 2150 rpm and, even though it was firewalled, only 69 mph indicated and no more even letting it continue well down the 5500 ft. runway, so I aborted the take-off. My instructor always taught me that if something didn't feel right, or if I wasn't comfortable with the aircraft, abort and check things out again before proceeding. Long story short, I spoke with an 85 year old pilot (who is also the airport manager) who owned Ercoupes for years and he said that 2150 on the ground was actually good and had I rotated and let the plane fly it would have picked up in both rpm and mph. He explained that the prop was pulling all the weight of the aircraft, crew, and the friction (drag?) of the wheels on the runway which would explain why it didn't increase speed. My instructor has no Ercoupe time either, and the airport manager doesn't instruct anymore. I haven't been able to find anyone near here who has Ercoupe instructing in his or her resume. So we have been trying to learn the aircraft together. I have been reading everything I can lay my hands on, including the owner's manual, about how the plane flys. The instructor asked why I aborted, I explained and he said he felt like everything was okay but I did the right thing since I was the one doing the flying. I asked him if he was willing to bet his life on whether or not I was getting everything out of the engine that I needed to fly it safely and he said he didn't. I told him, "Me neither!" I could use some input here, but please save any "you're a dumbass" comments. I'm learning, I'm asking, and I don't consider this a stupid question. Thanks in advance. Carl LaVon
