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Gentlemen. I had my share on good Crosswind take offs and landings. First I must tell you no fear! A lot is possible in a Coupe. While other Aircraft might be limited by the the amount of force they can put in on the rudders in cross wind landings, the Coupe seems to be limeted only by your own abilities. Of course these abilities grow with practice. I remember my first X-wind takeoff with a 10 knot direct ( 90 degrees) x-wind. Did not work to well because I left the elevator trim in takeoff position as per book and desperate as I was, I tried to steer down the runway with a already lifted nose wheel., so I aborted and after realizing what was missing , I forced the nose wheel down to give me the steering authority needed. Piece of cake. Years later circumstances will have it that I arrive at my airport on a beautiful but windy Saturday just to find myself the only pilot to be out there. The wind was straight pointing at a 90 degree angle and extending the windsock to its full glamour and left even the ends of it flutter . I heard that a fully extended windsock indicates 15 knots of wind . What the heck I thought, 15 knots, thats just 18 miles and reported are 25 miles for the Coupe with claims of even more. My Coupe, well maintained as I am a German has its tail where it should be , so no problems will come up on landings I thought to myself. And how to take off I learned years ago anyway. So up I went. The take off was already an adventure. The tail pushed hard on the plane - it really wanted to go into the wind, and I had a hard time to keep the nose down and steer and finally when reaching 60 I gave the plane what it wanted and let it fly and up we went, pointing 45 degrees toward the wind - perfect. So I went into the traffic pattern, adjusted the plane for the Crosswind in all turns, excellent. Down to the final approach. I adjusted for the cross wind and found myself pointing with the left wing toward the runway!. That seemed akward, but I told myself 25mls are reported. If others can do it , you will to. So I came down. Centerline runway. All perfect, just the plane was actually pointing wing forward. When over the concrete I also realized that if you approach in a 90 degree crosswind your ground speed is really 65 in contrary than landing into the wind where your headwind takes off some of your ground speed. So there I am really making 65 down the runway and pointing forward with the left wing. All seems to be too fast then, I was in doubt for a moment and was thinking for a go around, but then I realized, nothing would change, this is the way I have to land now. Touch down. Good , all seemed well. . The plane turned into the flown direction, centerline, but the right wing ....did not come down, so did not the speed. Now I got a little concerned. I can not roll down all the 3000 ft of the runway with the right side of the plane up and the feeling of actually steering the Coupe only on the front wheel and the left . What the @T%$$*^. Come down right wing! It did not come down. I was afraid to use the brakes, because I didn't want the Coupe to get out of balance also I found it hard to steer the plane only on two wheels. It is hard folks. Really. Takes a lot of nerves. However, I found that when I pulled backwards, the wing would come down and when I let go or pushed foreward the wing would actually come up. Wow. As the speed finally came down to .. a number I can not report, the wig came down, the plane was acting normal again... and up I went again! lets see who is the boss here!. I really thought I learned ho to deal with the wind, came down for a second landing and.. I have to tell you guys, It is not funny to land a Coupe in a direct crosswind at or above 15 knots and so it is surely not with other light aircraft. After the second landing I felt my luck was exhausted and I gave up. Not really. I just stopped flying for the day and gave it some consideration that no onelse - no one even tried to dare the winds. So is it the Coupe or the Couper???? Hartmut N3330H > > > My book says 25mph crosswind. I've don 25 to 30,N3619H > -----Original Message----- > From: Ed Burkhead <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>From the http://www.ercoupe/org FAQ article: > >Question: I rode in a Coupe on a crosswind landing and the up-wind wing > >lifted so high I though we'd flip! > >A few people have ridden in a Coupe which, during this yaw motion, lifted > >the up-wind wing quite a ways -- and that ride is scary. Ten or twenty > years > >ago, the majority of Coupes were sitting on their landing gear with the > >tails drooping low. Some of this was caused by aging and compressed rubber > >donuts in the gear (or by old Belleville springs). On many planes, this was > >worsened by replacing the original nose gear single-fork with a later > >designed (and slightly longer) double-fork. > > > >We didn't think much of it, at first. But it was realized that this > >on-the-ground position gives the wings more angle of attack that was > >designed into the plane. Bill Coons of Lombard, Ill., went to an FAA > >engineer in Chicago and got shims approved for the landing gear and he > >passed the technique around the club. Added into the shock absorber stack, > >the shims return the on-the-ground attitude of the Coupe to the designed > >angle of attack in spite of compressed rubber gear donuts, aging springs, > or > >a longer nose gear fork. Subsequently much of the fleet has gotten > >maintenance and/or shims as needed to raise the tails on the ground to the > >designed 75 inches and no-lift angle of attack. > > > >With the tail at the right height, the Coupe's crosswind landing behavior > is > >the best in the industry, bar none. > > > >Question: How high a X-wind can a coupe handle? > >Like most planes, pilots report having landed in crosswinds much higher > than > >the demonstrated crosswind component. Some Coupe pilots say they don't > think > >twice about 30 kt. direct crosswind component, others claim to have done > >even higher crosswinds. In practice, many Coupe owners are comfortable > >flying in crosswinds that keep them on the ground if they were flying most > >other light planes. Smart pilots first work their way up to the > demonstrated > >croswind component listed in their owners manual. First they get fully > >competent at that level, and only then experiment as their own skill and > >equipment allow. Be sure your tail is at or very near regulation height of > >75 inches for good crosswind behavior (see detailed discussion below). > > > >Ed Burkhead > >http://edburkhead.com/ > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: John Jameson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2002 8:46 AM > >To: Ercoupe Hangar Flying > >Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Re: Digest list: Ercoupe Hangar Flying > > > >----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any > >advice in this forum.]---- > > > > > >merry ERCOUPE xmas everyone!!!! > > > > my question is that a 415c coupe i am flying has a little bit of a low > >tail (63 inches). i haven't got around to putting spacers in to raise the > >tail. it flies and lands great. the "squirrley" landing characteristics > of > >a low tail are supposed to be on crosswind landings. > > > >can someone describe what i might be in for in a crosswind landing with > this > >low tail?.... thanks jm jameson ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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