Wonder why nobody has...

D

DFH65

New member
developed a kit plane around the Ercoupe 415C?

Seems like it would fit in the E-LSA market space fairly well.

Anyone have a few million so I can put a company together? :D
 
DFH65 said:
Story of my life a day late and a dollar short. I would definitely widen the cockpit by a few inches and increase the useful load if at all possible (as they did).
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Never been in one; just glanced in. But I've read that the cockpit needs more leg room than width, and that the climb rate needed improving. Also, it isn't clear that the person(s) proposing the "Coupe Cruiser" have progressed beyond a proposal.
 
DFH65 said:
I was just thinking some about the target market with the Sport Pilot and how the Ercoupe might fit in.

2 seats, tricycle gear, low cost to fly and maintain, simple to fly...
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The biggest differentiators of the Ercoupe are no rudders and spin/stall resistant.

One can use the same basic approach the Fred Weick did or do a clean-sheet approach. I think the latter is the best route. I don't think the world needs yet-another-airplane design.

One possible set of simple-to-fly requirements that no airplane can handle:

  • Engine control should be limited to start/stop button and optional(!) throttle control. No mixture control. No carb heat. No prop control.
  • A single control, which when moved from neutral, controls the speed of the aircraft in that direction directly proportional to the distance the control is moved from the neutral position. Feedback system limits the range (possibly even pushing back toward neutral) of movement proportional to what is physically possible at any given time in that direction.
  • Is VTOL capable. A whole host of advantages follow (like the whole issue of stall and where you've installed the wheels, and on and on.)
  • Is (or at least acts) inherently stable at all available control positions.
One technology that could handle the above is electronically controlled quadcopters and other multicopters. For the techno-squeamish who don't trust electronics enough or who don't trust auto-rotation to work properly with that many rotors, the typical layout of multicopters should allow installation of a ballistic parachute. Such parachutes appear to be difficult or impossible to add to standard helicopters.

Anyway - I realize this is an odd thread to mention the above since it has nothing to do (directly) with the Ercoupe, but yet-another-airplane design, no matter how intriguing or deserving of revisiting or resurrecting, just doesn't seem to me to move aviation forward any.
 
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