Just out of curiosity, who, other than yourself, is qualified to address issues dealing with Ercoupes? I find an ad hominem, cast to your comments when substantive issues about the Ercoupe are addressed and you disagree with them. For example: "Many Ercoupes are now in the hands of people who appreciate them for their inspired design and honest capability." And just who are those people? Are there only certain ones on this board who have the appropriate knowledge? Further: "Those who would speak as an Ercoupe "expert" had best put in the time and effort to so qualify. The distinction between personal experience or opinion." So, many of us do not put in the time and effort to qualify to make comments? And also: "The value of the services rendered by a professional is almost always dependent upon their awareness or lack of awareness of the exceptions!" Aha! I get it. Most of us are not "aware" and are not professional. Please forward a list of those who qualify to comment, especially about the fake airframe data plates. Bart
-----Original Message----- From: William R. Bayne <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, Jun 26, 2010 5:17 pm Subject: Re: [ercoupe-tech] Re: Model Definitions Hi Bart, any Ercoupes are now in the hands of people who appreciate them for heir inspired design and honest capability. More and more are being rought up to high cosmetic quality. Most would replace old, corroded r faded placards with new ones where possible. nless stamped data is inappropriately changed, why should engine or irframe data plates be presumed "suspect". Just as firearms can be isused, that is no reason to unreasonably restrict their sale to the eneral public on the basis of their misuse by those who would ignore he law. As to what is "appropriate", since a CD airframe is now pparently deemed Light Sport eligible purely on the basis of whether r not it was ever "properly" converted to a D Model in FAA records, hy is a C with a new data plate any harder to verify as to Light port eligibility? hile a new dataplate can be installed to mislead, an original ataplate (and paperwork) from another airframe can (and has been) be sed to the same effect. It is clearly inappropriate in each and very individual instance in a society where the presumption of nnocence is the "norm" to infer or suggest questionable intent either o those who sell replacement nameplates on eBay or elsewhere or those ho buy them unless or until there is some evidence to support such uggestion or presumption. hose who would speak as an Ercoupe "expert" had best put in the time nd effort to so qualify. The distinction between personal experience r opinion and fact is one of the very greatest importance when these iffer. The "goal", in every case, should be "the truth, the whole ruth, and nothing but the truth". omplicated? Well, in the "real world" where decisions are made, few hings are simple. LIFE isn't simple. College (or tech school) eaches students the "rules", but experience teaches the exceptions. he value of the services rendered by a professional is almost always ependent upon their awareness or lack of awareness of the exceptions! n this context, most things that appear simple have been versimplified to such extent that the "whole truth" is no longer ncluded. The "informed decision" that should in EVERY case be made, nsofar as is feasible, is not possible when too much of the puzzle is hus missing. ou mention "a quirk about the ID plate on a true CD". This infers hat there is only one type of "factory" CD data plate. here are those airframes between Serial Numbers 4501 and 4868 (one of hich appears not to have been actually produced, licensed or xported) that were originally produced (or modified on the production ine before being flown for acceptance as conforming to their Type ertificate) as 415-CDs. My recollection is that the wording on these ata plates essentially substitutes "CD" where "C" appears on the 15-C airframe plates. here are a hundred plus 415-C airframes with serials as low as 3498 hat were unsold in dealer hands when the CD model was announced. At he request of those dealers, these were converted by ERCO in the ield into the 415-CD model. The etched lettering of name plates of he latter contain the word "modified", and research to date would uggest that the "new" plate was installed as a replacement for (and ot a supplement to) the original. egards, illiam R. Bayne .____|<underline>-</underline>(o)<underline>-</underline>|____. (Copyright 2010) - n Jun 26, 2010, at 11:36, [email protected] wrote: excerpt> fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Exellent Donald,</smaller></fontfamily> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>My case is there is a lot of isinformation, either intentional or intentional, being advertised bout Ercoupes. You are right about getting the CD (compact disk) rom the Feds with a given N number's records, or paying I think it is OPA, about $50 to get a quick reading on the records for a given ircraft usually in a day.</smaller></fontfamily> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Also, recently there have een advertisements for Ercoupe ID plates being sold for a pretty enny and it doesn't pass the smell test either. I wish we had a learing house to identify bona fide light sport Ercoupes for everyone o view. But then there are people who----------</smaller></fontfamily> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>One little correction. bout your statement "Red flags should come up if you see an enlarged rim tab" can throw you off because the factory CD's qualirfy as light ports but have the enlarged trim tab. The CD's were made after the 's were manufactured so they had most of the features of a D, except or the elevator restriction, and their gross weight limitation is the ame as a C.</smaller></fontfamily> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Jeez this gets complicated.</smaller></fontfamily> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Maybe I'll mention a quirk bout the ID plate on a true CD at a later time. TMI for now.</smaller></fontfamily> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Bart</smaller></fontfamily> /excerpt>=
