Maybe I just notice when Ercoupes crash (or are otherwise destroyed) because they’re so damned cute. I like the idea of flying a small, underpowered, vintage airplane from a bygone era. Five and a half thousand of them were built, but they’re still a little uncommon when you consider all of the 150s and Skyhawks and Cherokees out there. I’m sorry to see any airplane crash. Ercoupes especially.
I’m glad the occupants of the latest crash walked away from it.
If you want an Ercoupe, but with something not yet 70 years old, there is an example of the last of the line on ebay - a Mooney cadet - forward of the close-out bulkhead, it’s an Ercoupe; aft, it is a generic tiny airplane - straight tail.
And I understand: conventional airplane controls, and no stop on the yoke - you can stall/spin to your heart’s desire.
The Ercoupe got its “unstallable” trick via a ten cent collar on the yoke shaft which made it impossible to increase AoA to a stall position. Neat trick.
That was the plane which had the potential to fulfill the dream that everyone the govt. had taught to fly during WWII would buy his own airplane - it was cheap, and the whole family could learn to fly it.
It was killed by the CFI’s - no money in a plane which requires about 5 hours of instruction.
Same thing is happening to Light Sport now.
There was a shop which trained in LPA in Sacto; it’s gone.
Piper had squirrled away a huge stockpile on chrome alloy, ready to expand production for the huge boom expected…
Wrong on 2 counts - no boom, and everybody wanted an aluminum plane.
I am much less bothered by the bending of an Ercoupe than I am about airplanes for which parts are no longer made. Anything needed to fix this one is in the Univair catalog. For that matter, they own the type certificate, and the LSA-eligible models ought to have enough of a market to add factory assembly to their offerings.
Some of them have rudder pedals as an aftermarket mod - dunno if there was a factory option, maybe on the later models.
Doesn’t a Mooney Cadet have a wooden wing spar? Sorry, I’m not getting in one of those.
Not all of them lacked rudder pedals, and I understand that many were retrofitted. I learned to fly where it’s windy. I wants mah rudder pedals!
I saw that. ‘Number 1’, ‘The very first Mooney M10 Cadet’. The auction is closed, so I searched completed auctions and then did a find on ‘cadet’. It came up three times. This aircraft sold June 10th for $19,500… Then was listed again and didn’t sell on June 30th for $17,300 and didn’t sell again on July 7th for $12,700. I wonder how many first Cadets, s/n 690001, Mooney actually made? :dubious:
I did not know that the Mooney M10 Cadet was a derivative of the ERCO/Alon Ercoupe. I’ve never seen one IRL, and when I’ve seen pictures (in passing – never looked into them) I think I conflated them with the smaller M-18 Mite. You learn something new every day!
Since it was intended for commercial use (flight training) and the FAA had banned wooden spars in planes used for commerce (Knute Rockne found a plane with in-flight folding wing), and I found pics of “riveting an Ercoupe spar”, I highly doubt that Mooney would all of a sudden resurrect the wooden spar.
You may be thinking of a problem with a steel bracket used as wing attachment - there was a corrosion issue. Found an AD calling of inspection of center box for corrosion.
I inherited an Ercoupe when my Pop died about 4 yrs ago, but I don’t fly, so I sold it. Glad to see that this crash wasn’t his plane (I sold his plane in Oregon). They are beautiful little crates. It stung a little bit to let it go.
I’ve always wanted wanted a polished aluminum Ercoupe in pre-war USAAC livery – red circle in the star roundel, red and white stripes on the rudders, olive-drab anti-glare panel. It would be called ‘Putt-Putt Maru’. (There was actually a P-38 with that name in WWII, but with its tiny engine an Ercoupe is a bit of a ‘putt-putt’. Besides, if you squint it kind of looks like half a P-38. )
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