How do you land an Ercoupe in a crosswind?
The biggest key to landing in any crosswind without rudder pedals is that you have no control authority on the ground until the nosewheel is on the ground. Not necessarily no control until nosewheel is on the ground. The Coupe will “weathervane” into the wind. Keep it going down the center of the runway.
Does Ercoupe have rudder?
Lacking rudder pedals, the Ercoupe was flown using only the control wheel. A two-control system linked the rudder and aileron systems, which controlled yaw and roll, with the steerable nosewheel.
How does crosswind effect aircraft?
Crosswinds cause the aircraft to drift. Unlike the headwind and tailwind scenario, crosswinds affect both aircraft speed and the flight direction. It depends on both the windspeed and on the aircraft speed. Stronger winds will result in a larger deviation.
Can you stall an Ercoupe?
Ercoupes can and do crash. They can and do stall, might not technically spin, but they do crash just like real airplanes. Stall accidents, usually when turning base to final or climb-out to crosswind, claimed the next deadly level.
Is the Ercoupe safe?
Built by the Engineering and Researching Corporation (ERCO), the Ercoupe was billed as “America’s first certified spin-proof plane.” It was safe: Ads called it the “world’s safest plane” and compared its handling to that of the family car.
How does crosswind affect flight performance?
The chief effect of the cross wind is to deflect the flight path in the direction of the wind. The aerodynamic lift force depends on the airspeed and is not related to a constant cross wind. The cross wind simply adds another vector component to the ground speed which affects the flight trajectory.
Can a Ercoupe be flown in a crosswind?
Rudder purists sneered, but the Ercoupe was successfully tested in crosswinds up to 40 MPH—far beyond the capability of almost any aircraft, then or now. True, it took nerve to drive the thing on in a stiff crosswind, but the gear proved up to the task.
Can you do a bad landing in an Ercoupe?
You can do a bad landing in an Ercoupe, but it takes effort to damage the gear. It’s not, as some think, a castering crosswind gear as in some versions of the Cessna 190/195. After a crabbed touchdown, the airplane immediately turns to point in the direction it is traveling, so you feel the sideload on touchdown.
What kind of rudder did the Ercoupe have?
The Ercoupe had a pair of vertical fins on a single tail boom, a design that had become popular with Lockheed and Beech twins in the 1930s. And although the Ercoupe had rudders, it had no rudder pedals. The cockpit floor has but one pedal, for the brakes, helping with legroom for tall pilots.
When did the Ercoupe go out of production?
Weick went to work for ERCO and used many of the techniques he’d developed with the high-wing W-1, including limiting up-elevator travel for stall resistance, for the low-wing Ercoupe. Production continued on the original Ercoupe through 1941, when the attack on Pearl Harbor brought all U.S. civil aircraft manufacturing to a standstill.