If It Weren't for Bicycle Mechanics, There Wouldn't Be Any Such Thing As Aviation

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>, Mark Hickey <[email protected]> wrote:

> -= ®atzofratzo =- <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 21:21:32 -0400, Sheldon Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >>My dad's Ercoupe had no rudder, but had two vertical stabilizers in back. I liked this, 'cause
> >>it meant I could fly it. I never ran into that problem, but, since I was only 6-9 years old, I
> >>didn't generally do any turning.
> >
> >I thought the Ercoupe had rudders but that they were linked to the aileron control? Otherwise it
> >couldn't make a coordinated turn without a rudder?
>
> Exactly. It's one of those things that sounds like a good idea (and was supposed to make flying
> simpler). But there are times when you really don't want the rudder doing what it does when it's
> linked to the ailerons like that (later years of the Scarecoop had traditional rudder pedals).

Huh. You can't sideslip an early Ercoupe?? It might make it easier to fly circuits and bumps, but in
my roughly 5 hours of lessons, I was already doing crossed-up control landings when I had to put the
plane down against a notable crosswind.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

[Mark Hickey]

Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:

> Mark Hickey <[email protected]> wrote:

>> Exactly. It's one of those things that sounds like a good idea (and was supposed to make flying
>> simpler). But there are times when you really don't want the rudder doing what it does when it's
>> linked to the ailerons like that (later years of the Scarecoop had traditional rudder pedals).
>
>Huh. You can't sideslip an early Ercoupe?? It might make it easier to fly circuits and bumps, but
>in my roughly 5 hours of lessons, I was already doing crossed-up control landings when I had to put
>the plane down against a notable crosswind.

Scarecoops handle crosswind landings OK because the nose wheel isn't connected to the rudder/aileron
controls - put it on the ground pointing any direction and it will pretty much find its way. But
when you're really high and hot on final, it's nice to be able to tell the wings and rudder to go
opposite directions (bleeding off speed and altitude).

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame