Sport Pilot License - Ercoupe 415C
Well, the FAA just announced that effective September 1, 2004 there will be a new class of general aviation license available called the Sport Pilot. It is limited to VFR daytime flying and only in planes that are certified for the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) classification. Another big difference in this Class of License is that only a valid driver's license is required for medical certification (unless you have failed to pass the old exam, in which case the FAA is still working on a clarification of what will be required.)Aircraft restrictions include 1320 lb max take off weight, 2 seats max, and max stall speed of 45 knots (51.75 mph). That unfortunately eliminates most of the common trainers made by Cessna, Piper and Beechcraft so there should be a host of new designs coming to the marketplace to fill the need for the pilots who will be using this new license. You can read more than you might be interested in by visiting the following sites:
www.sportpilot.org and
www.eaa.org
There are, of course, a number of "historic" (read antique) planes that fit the category including the classic Piper Cub (J-3) and a bunch of Aeronca's and TaylorCraft. These are tail-draggers unfortunately and they are quite difficult to fly. On the other hand, Engineering Research Corp built about 5,000 neat little planes in the early '40's with the name Ercoupe (aka Aircoupe) and these little aircraft are quite interesting for the Sport Pilot application.
The only two models that qualify are the Ercoupe 415C and the 415CD so I went to www.avsim.com and downloaded a 415C. This post is to describe the results.
The panel is painted a gaudy fire-engine red and the instruments are a little hard to read, but the plane flies nicely. There are no flaps, so controlling air speed on the landing approach requires special care using throttle and elevator to keep the beast flying at the right air speed during the final approach.
One other neat feature is that this tricycle gear plane has castered main gear so that you can crab in a crosswind and let the plane touch down with its longitudinal axis mis-aligned with the runway and the wheels will swivel to keep you straight down the runway after touching down. Tres cool!
The neat thing is there are several Ercoupes still flying in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral area, so I'll see if I can find a CFI who will train me. At 8,000 - 12,000 (US$) it would be tempting to own one, but that's another tale (or post.)
-Dr. Bob
