Carl I think mine is a classic "good deal" story. I bought a flying 'coupe "C" for $11.5 K four years ago. Immediately flew it 1200 miles to home base. (OK admittedly, something or other fell off on every landing. Nothing important, but always something.) Since bringing it home, it has cost me about $6K. ( I've had the wings recovered for $2000, and the last annual cost me $4000 to get it right, and remove the rudder pedals.) She will never be pretty, but the bird is sound.
I got that deal, by watching Barnstormers for months, checking on-line a few times per day. The plane I caught had been on the site only for about 15 minutes when I saw it and phoned the seller. I bought it sight unseen within another 15 minutes. Welcome to the club or, as my flying mates call it, "the cult". Let'em. We get the last laugh. Dave Winters From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nick King Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 7:03 AM To: carl_lavon Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ercoupe-tech] Re: Mods and LSA Bargain's and P.O.S's are best left to guys like me. I bought one for $17,500 .It was neglected and I was aware of it when I bought it. There have been some surprises,but nothing I couldnt handle. In reality , there are no good or bad deals. They all cost the same in the long run.I love working on mine ,and have the knowledge and tools and time to do it.I knew going in that I could have gotten a cherry turnkey 415-c for $30k. but I didnt want that. If you want to get a steal on a perfect airplane then you are looking to screw the seller.He has spent the money to get that airplane in that shape and keep it that way for the next guy.Less money SHOULD by less plane. Cash talks.........B.S. walks !!! --- On Mon, 8/3/09, carl_lavon <[email protected]> wrote: From: carl_lavon <[email protected]> Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Re: Mods and LSA To: [email protected] Date: Monday, August 3, 2009, 7:11 AM You bet your ass! "Caveat Emptor" indeed! I learned that if you go slumming for a "deal" on a 415C, you'll find a slum lord somewhere just waiting to give you one. And don't let so-called "fresh annuals" sway your decision. Unfortunate but true, there are enough A&P IAs out there that will sign off on a truly unfit aircraft and mark it as airworthy when it's anything but. And then owners like me, who didn't use a trustworthy independent inspector to do a pre-buy, get stuck with a piece of crap airplane that we unknowningly pass on to the next owner who also goes by the sign-offs and doesn't do his or her own due diligence. IMHO, I would never buy another plane, Ercoupe or otherwise, unless it was inspected by my own guy or gal who had no financial interest in the aircraft; further, I would never agree to sell an aircraft to someone unless he or she paid for their own pre-buy before taking delivery. I'm more interested in maintaining a name and reputation that is known as honest and truthful than buying or selling a so-called "bargain." There, now I'm off my soapbox for today. Carl LaVon --- In [email protected] <http://us.mc460.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> , jh <j...@...> wrote: > > jackwhickman wrote: > > I am new to the group and looking at Ercoupe's to buy. I want an LSA. I have two questions about mods. (1) Do metal wings on a 415C, indicate it is no longer an LSA, or another way to ask the question, can you metalize the wings without driving a 415C out of the LSA category? > yes, you can metalize the wings, but watch out for the extra weight, > which reduces the net carrying capacity of the plane. I think the Weight > and Balance will have to be redone as well. > > (2) Can you modify a 415C to get a 90 or 100 HP engine and still qualify as an LSA? I am obviously new to Ercoupe's, any help is greatly appreciated. > > > This is more a question of whether it's allowed for the plane by what's > called an STC, than whether it qualifies as LSA. The Ercoupe is > certified in the "normal" class. Installing an engine that isn't > certified for that plane makes it an "experimental". I don't know the > ramifications of that. > > If I may offer some candid advice, I've been searching for a reliable, > reasonably priced 415 C or CD for months, and have perused the complete > records of several. There's a lot more going on with regard to the > quality and reliability of Ercoupes than I naively thought when starting > out. After all, the FAA is taking care of us, aren't they? > > Take a look at the Web page; > > http://www.ercoupe.org/Prepurchase_inspection.html > > for an eye opener of all the potential issues. > > And, go through the archive of this discussion list searching for the > words "crash" and "failure". Furthermore, 3 Ercoupe 415s crashed between > April and June, I think it was. 2 of them were fatal. Pilot error, > mechanical failure, both? I don't know. > > The other thing is, in this market, where so many are looking for > inexpensive LSA airplanes, the Ercoupe 415Cs are in high demand. Prices > are $10-$15K higher than comparable non-LSA Ercoupes. What's worse, many > of the 415Cs were converted to 415Ds, which is a legal change. But, the > 415D isn't LSA compliant. It has a MTOW ("gross weight") of 1400 lbs. > And, the FAA won't allow them to be converted back, even though it's > easy to do. > > I hope this is helpful. > > It's certainly caveat emptor out there. So, be careful and be safe. > > Regards, > > Jim Hart > > > > > > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links s.com> mailto:[email protected] <http://us.mc460.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ercoupe-tech-fullfeatu...@yaho ogroups.com> groups.com>
