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How can you not look at the airspeed indicator on final. I don't believe you pretty much know how fast you're going. Call me old fashioned, but I keep one eye glued on the air speed indicator, one on the altimeter, and the third one on the runway. Larry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Bullough" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "MAGIC VAC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Ralph.Maria Finch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ercoupe Hangar Flying" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 1:50 PM Subject: Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Slowest Cruise Speeds > At 12:31 PM 12/5/02 -0800, Hartmut wrote: > >I tried several times to land the plane at 60 - 70 like the book wants it > >- all that ended just in a > >very fast decent and a hard bounce. No good. > > That's characteristic of a 415D. You can't make enough angle of attack with the > elevator available to land at 60-70. > > >God knows what speed I was really flying. I had to hold 80 on final. to > >fly a normal approach. Of > >course these 80 MPH were just a fiction - something what the airspeed > >meter was making up. > > Again, a pretty standard speed in a 415D. And even a lot of C-owners fly > final at 80. > > >I think it is a very good idea to have the airspeed meter checked from > >time to time especially since the coupe starts sinking when reaching lower > >speeds . > > I have to admit that I rarely look at the airspeed any more in a familiar > Ercoupe in the > pattern. You pretty much know how fast you're going and the sink becomes > obvious > outside the windshield if you get slow. > > >By the way . I believe this tendency to sink is just the trade off needed > >by design to keep the coupe in a controllable flying condition at low > >speeds. The Cessnas might be better sail planes but they probably stall > >then more abrupt, while Weick's planes are just gently lowering the noses > >and just lose altitude. > > Well, yes and no. The 'sink' is a trade-off for a stall, but there are > fundamental philosophical > differences between a Coupe and a Cessna as well. Cessna breeds safety with > a big, gentle, > highly washed-out wing along with heavy controls. The Ercoupe's approach > was to limit > angle of attack on what is (in fact) a very fussy wing with a violent and > deep stall characteristic. > The under-cambered NACA 50000 series foil was probably somewhat of an > aeronautical > engineer's flight of fancy, and I wonder if Uncle Fred would have done it > again. > > The side-effects of the Cessna approach are the characteristics we all know > and love > (or hate): handling far more like a Buick than a Porsche. The side effects > of the > Coupe approach are limited pitch authority (prior to the E-model). And this > wing's > tendency to develop some rather dramatic sink rates at lower speeds. > > >If you know what to expect - I think Weick's planes are easier to deal with. > > I think history has proved otherwise. I think Weick's planes are more FUN to > deal with, but I think that Cessna's designs have stood the test of time as > easier and safer...unless you are susceptible to dying of boredom. Slower > things > usually are. > > >So you might come down fast and land hard instead of stalling the plane on > >final - make your own > >judgment. > >(oh yes, I know Cessnas have flaps and ercoupes don't , I see it more like > >this: Cessnas need flaps and > >Ercoupes don't) > > But Ercoupes need flaps. They just don't have them. So if we're high and > hot and don't want > to go around, we intentionally drop into the low lift/high drag airspeeds, > and sink a ways. That > will work in a Cessna, also. Alarms the hell out of the kid CFI doing your > BFR though :-) > > I've never thought a 172 was a particularly 'floaty' plane near the ground. > It has high wings, > which makes up for a lot of that. Now a taper wing Cherokee will float into > the next > county.... > > Greg > ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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