Alan; If the aircraft was certified with the hand brake, that'll be the reason to leave it on. While you're at it, you can repair the brake system so that it doesn't bleed down when you have constant pressure on them.
Now, I guess you can remove the brake and it'll fly just as well, so if you really want to, hire a DER and have him write up the appropriate paperwork for your STC. If you find a willing DER, I'll bet you can get it done for less than $1500.00. Remember you CAN'T take anything off an airplane that it was built with and you CAN'T add anything it wasn't built with without proper paperwork, regardless of the sanity of the mod. Now bring on the hate mail, I love it! Al, Yep-Still Here, Demarzo Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page Free, Easy and No Membership Required http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: texasaviator To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 1:41 PM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Hand brake?.. What for? I am currenly rebuilding a coupe's panel and wondering about the hand brake. I have a foot brake that I step on when landing and doing run-ups. This hydraulic brake has a cable that runs up behind the panel to the hand brake, so it is really hydraulic, not mechanical. Since I am doing nothing special with my feet during run-up I use the foot brake for this. I am not supposed to put on the hand brake, get out of the coupe to hand prop it. Tempting as it may be, that is dangerous. If I leave it parked with the hand brake on it will bleed through after a while and not be effective and may even mess up my brakes in the process if my return spring is weak. I have chocks and tie-downs for parking. The hand brake takes up panel space, adds a little weight and over the last 10 years has not been of much use for anything. I don't even hang my cell phone on it. So why put it back?... Anybody have any good reasosn why I should have it? Alan fairclough. n87333
