I had a student back in 1972 who had a 1946 Ercoupe. The instrument panel looked just like this one. It was an interesting plane. An 8 gallon fuel tank in each wing pumped up to a 6 gallon header tank in front of the windshield. The fuel gauge was a rod sticking out of the gas cap attached to a cork floating inside the header tank. When that rod started bouncing, that would indicate that you were now on your last 6 gallons of fuel, or about one hour of flying left. If the rod had any corrosion pits it would stick to the fuel cap because the airflow would exert some backward pressure on that rod which would cause it to jam to the cap. We had been flying for many hours one day and lost track of time. I commented that we should have seen that rod starting down by now? I cracked the sliding canopy plexiglass open and told the student to reach out and give that fuel dipper rod a tap. When he did that rod went ka-plunk all the way down. Yikes! We landed immediately and refueled. It took 20 gallons to fuel up. That engine would have probably quit running in less than 10 minutes had we not given that fuel "gauge" rod a tap. A new rod solved that problem, and we particularly paid more attention to flying time instead of just waiting for that fuel "gauge" rod to start down. The engine was 75 hp, but by simply replacing the carburetor throat with a larger one it became an 85 hp engine. The other problem was that the trim wire running under the seat near the battery develops corrosion. I assume that the center section of the wing spar would also be affected by corrosion. How that plane made it through an annual inspection is questionable because the corroded trim cable snapped on me while I was doing a pre-flight control operation check following an annual inspection! There was only a brake pedal on the floor: no rudders. I think the plane was made for short pilots because it lacked leg room. If you wanted to descend rapidly all you had to do was power off and do Dutch Rolls. That stall proof plane could still hurt you with a fast rate of power off descent. It was a fun and cheap to fly airplane which could be flown with the canopy wide open without much of a breeze blowing inside. Wish I had one now.

Owned 99391 two years and 350 hours in Texas back in 2000-2002. Did a lot of rerig and upgrades on her. My highlights were giving Paul Prentice a ride in her in Bowie Tx one day and meeting Fred Wicke at a fly in back in the 80's. Long live coupes!

I'm not a pilot but I would love to find one of these that needs restoration. This is right up my alley, I'm a retired Senior Mastercraftman that worked for GAC for 42 years. I miss working on planes.

I appreciate and feel satisfy that this video was made.

My father and me brother and I rebuilt and restored wing fabric of a 1947.A lady sold it to my father in 1969 for $1400 dollars. great easy flyer.

Very nice plane I loved

Learned to fly in an Ercoupe. In nice weather it was fun to open the lid when landing. In the winter, you needed to open the lid a bit until you were in flight, to prevent inside frost. I never worried about cross winds, just crab & slip in against it. Didn't glide like a Cessna. When you pulled the throttle, you sank like a rock.

I fly the Ercoupe, but the one I fly is refurbished and has upgraded avionics. It's a very fun plane to fly.

I grew up in N2078H. That was my playground and classroom. Last Ercoupe built in '46 as I understand. I flashed back when I saw the petcocks at 5:24. I would check the water level in each tank and show it to my dad. Then he'd prep the plane. Sometimes at altitude he'd let me take the wheel if he was in a good mood. Very good pilot. Lousy instructor. I miss 2078Hotel more than I miss my dad.

The elevator trim cable passes right under the battery box. Look for corrosion there. I had one snap on me once while I was cranking in up elevator.

No mention of engine being "pickled" for long term storage or not. BIG difference in worth of airplane. Since not mentioned, assumption is that it has not. Which means airplane is worth about $10,000.

not trying to knock on your plane it's really a beauty but I found one in a barn with only 290 hours im working on restoring she's beautiful just needs a restoration but she runs GREAT! !!

@lukewarmwater6412

5 жыл бұрын

both of you are horrible people!!! .... awesome plane, looks like it would be nice to fly. hope your resto goes well!

1000...hours...reminds me of a modonna song....like a virgin.

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!! wish I had it!!!!! Awesome find !!!!!!!!!!

Jackpot.

One I went up in bk in the 50s only had one left control wheel......um it might scare you a little to know what holds the tail on

What did it end up selling for?

You mentioned you were going to post information on how to contact "Jim", but I don't see it. What is that information?

i flew one of them great airplane

Actually, that has a C-85 engine with a starter and fuel pump (the A-75 had neither) It also has blisters on cowl for shielded plugs (but unshielded plugs installed) and an antenna so it could be equipped with a radio. Beautiful ship needing nothing but some TLC. BTW, there was an AD on the center section of the wing back in the 1950s and one should verify that it has been done or they will have bought a $25,000 garden ornament.

@douglasrodrigues332

5 жыл бұрын

To my knowledge, the original 75 hp engine is converted to 85 hp simply by installing a larger throat into the carburetor. Re: the fuel pump. To my knowledge the carb is gravity fed from the 6 gallon header tank. The fuel pump simply pumps fuel from each of the 8 gallon wing tanks into the header tank.

@JimForeman

5 жыл бұрын

It's been so long since I worked on these engines (built up C-85s for Cassutt Racers) so I had to check them out for accuracy. The A-65 was 171 cu/in, The A-75 was 188 cu/in and the C-85, C-90 and O-200 were all 201 cu/in. All C engine cases had the hump for a fuel pump and lobe on the camshaft but only certain ones were machined for pumps. Same goes for starter mounts.

@JimForeman

5 жыл бұрын

Reply #2. Yes, the fuel pump on the Ercoupe transferred fuel from the wing tanks into the header tank which had a float valve to prevent over-filling. A few Luscombe 8Fs had fuel injection which prevents carburetor ice but was difficult to start, especially hand crank.

I know I missed the party but, did it have rudder pedals or was it a virgin?

Is this plane still available?

wow does it have rudder pedals? still great price for a great little plane.

@flyingclassroom1153

7 жыл бұрын

No rudder pedals at all. This aircraft is infamous for aileron rudder interconnect. Easier to fly for some but limits cross wind landing speeds.

@russellwood5867

7 жыл бұрын

thought some of them did have rudder pedals.thanks

@baronet68

7 жыл бұрын

Not sure what you mean by "limits cross wind landing speeds"? The Ercoupe can land in much higher direct crosswinds than most aircraft. When landing in a strong crosswind in an Ercoupe, you need to actually fly slightly FASTER than a typical landing.

@baronet68

7 жыл бұрын

@Russell, Some have been retrofitted to add rudder pedals but those pedals are unnecessary and just dead weight as the Ercoupe handles just fine without them.

@cluelessbeekeeping1322

5 жыл бұрын

@@russellwood5867 Some do, my brother's does. He's got the newer Alon.

Still available?

How much?

@chriscusick6890

Жыл бұрын

1 million dollars

You can't land an Ercoupe faster in a crosswind unless you want to pile it up. I owned a flew an Ercoupe for over ten years N87101. If you try to land faster in a crosswind then normal speed the chances are you are going to have the wing that is on the crosswind side raise up and if you don't know what to do in that situation you could end crashing the plane. I had it happen to me twice over ten years and the only two things that will save your ass is power on and try again or hit the brakes to slow the craft to landing speed. .As it was told to me by an old Ercoupe pilott....You don't pull your pants up before you get through taking a shit.

They drop like a rock, you have to FLY them to the ground

i bid $ 2000.00 ,,, heheheh