I have been flying mine for 3 years and with 6 gal in header, 4 gal on each side, 2 heavies in the cockpit, no baggage brings my weight to 1320 ( never over). With the trim full back ( takeoff /landing) it lifts off perfectly at 65 MPH with just a little back pressure on the yoke, climbs at about 70MPH with a wooden climb prop. If I place the trim in the cruise position ( full forward) at 2400RPM ,the nose has a tendancy to drop and I usually put the trim about mid way to give me level flight.
Nice thing is when downwind, power at 2000rpm, trim in the full back ( takoff/landing) it sets right on 70MPH. As I reduce power turning base and onto final it still sits on 70 MPH. Have demonstrated to passengers that it will fly hands off and flare only requires a slight pull back on the yoke. Couple of months ago the trim stopped working. What a difference . Had to really pull on the yoke to get her off the ground and it wanted to dive in the pattern. Trim wire was corroded. Oiled, moved it many times and it is now free. Hard to believe a small strip of metal on the back of an elevator makes such a difference in such a small aircraft. Love our Coupe. Jim N3439H FDK ----- Original Message ----- From: Caliendo Dan To: Ed Burkhead Cc: 'Nick King' ; [email protected] Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2009 11:08 AM Subject: Re: [ercoupe-tech] trim Guess I'm lucky. I thought all coupes were like mine. Full forward trim give me hands off cruise and full back is final approach speed (about 70). Dan C On Jul 25, 2009, at 8:15 AM, Ed Burkhead wrote: I’m puzzled and I’m certainly not and expert on how the trim should be set. Shouldn’t the trim setting allow for speeds higher than cruise? If I’m high in the perfectly smooth air above the thermals, shouldn’t I be able to trim for somewhat higher speeds so I can glide down at 110 or 120 mph instead of my normal cruise of 100 (or, for some people 104 or 108 mph)? ________________________________ NOTE: It was this kind of dive when I decided to let it get up to 144 mph that I got aileron flutter somewhere around 135 mph. Luckily, I figured it out and stopped it instantly so I’m alive. (My aileron linkages had excess play.) I DO NOT RECOMMEND – in fact, I STRONGLY DIS-RECOMMEND DIVES MUCH FASTER THAN YOUR CRUISE SPEED! AND, make absolutely sure your rigging is tight and that play is no more than specified in the service manual. Failure to do this can kill you! ________________________________ On my Coupe, full forward on the trim was some speed higher than cruise – I never explored the limit. But, full back on the trim was just what I wanted for final approach. What is proper for setting the trim range? Ed
