Hartmut wrote:
> I understand that the ERCO factory did not add corrosion
> protection because they expected the airplanes not to be
> used longer than ten years.
Fred Weick told me that they just didn't expect people to want to fly an
Ercoupe past 10 years as they expected much more advanced planes to be
available by then.
In the '30s and '40s no one conceived of the near freezing of aircraft
development which I attribute to the FAA's certification standards and cost.
Plus, each technology reaches a mature stage. The Ercoupe was one of the
first designs on the leading edge of the mature stage of aluminum and rivet
technology just as was the Continental C-65 engine (and C-75, C-85, and
O-200). (Remember when the Voyager flew around the world, unrefueled, in the
1980s, they used a version of the O-200!)
Development of newer and better just didn't much happen which leaves our
beloved Coupes very valuable to us as flying machines, not just antiques for
exhibit.
A hope of consensus standard certification for LSA was to spur development
of newer and better. We'll see.
Ed
