Earthstar Forums

Hi Mark and Gull Pilots,

I really liked this feature, a decade ago, like the Ercoupe. more spacious and likely looks cleaner inside, nice for long legs and everything. Is there something wrong with it, or limits some other feature like a gull’s differential brakes? Thought I’ll raise it to start a chat, Gull forum's fairly quiet these days.

Thanks,
Rahul

(Joined the ercoupe newsgroup too, back then; and *now* they chat about it, terming it as some kind of a limitation, while that ercoupe is called a panther.

Fred Wellman on Ercoupe newsgroup wrote,
When I recieved my Sport Pilot certificate it contained the dreaded "Ercoupe limitation". That is, I am restricted to the "Ercoupe 415 series without rudder pedals". I didn't think it was a big deal, but now I'm beginning to wonder.)

Rahul rudder pedals allow pilots to control yaw axis. That's rotation about
the vertical axis. The vertical stabilizer (in front of the rudder) is
there to keep the nose in front of the tail. By deflecting the rudder you
have some control over where the nose is pointed. Our planes also have nose
wheel steering connected to our rudder pedals. So on the ground we steer
with our feet. Since Ercoupes don't have rudder pedals, their steering is
connected to their stick. And they have no separate yaw control. This is
why Ercoupes are SPIN-proof.
However Mark has designed Gulls to be very stall resistant. One day (when I
was younger and more daring) I deliberately tried every way I could to spin
my plane. I stalled it nose up, nose down high speed, low speed. Full
rudder and stick deflection in every direction I could get a stall. My
plane would not spin. So IMHO gulls are just as safe as Ercoupes but a LOT
more fun to fly.
Later I did think that I didn't try inverted stalls. My engine quits with
negative G. So I'll leave that flight test for someone with an Electric
Powered plane.

Thank you. just saw this. Feels like almost best in class all round spin proof manouverability, both planes, Gull & Ercoupe.

I think it’s just the sight of the pedals, all metal tubing and wires, from Ed Baker’s odyssey build pictures, instead of clean flat pedal surfaces or just many inches of free space in front; That makes me want to think about it again. More than just aesthetics, it’s the thought of legs and feet safety in a potential crash event, that may be a cause of more damage than one would expect. See while driving, I prefer more than nine inches between the knee caps and dashboard; similar on a motorcycle; to be able to use the body and hands&legs as sort of springs; in a crash stop, that’s harder than hard braking. I don’t know, this scary scenario in a Gull is a little delicate to articulate; Mark built and crash tested the roll cage on the ground to Complete Satisfaction, sometime after (or before) his crash in a negative G manouver while making demonstration videos some decades back. That’s the only crash report i ever saw on the Gull, while checking NTSB a decade ago, sometime late 80s or early 90s, no lives lost. TOUCHWOOD, Maybe he’d like elaborate to enhance our sensitivities.

Dave, your plane could’nt have a Gravity driven carburettor or is it an engine limitation? Which carburettor is it? This carburettor design is yet another Black Art in science & engineering; (got two carbs, both are three decade old designs, the vehicle detailed maintenance manuals never talk about them, their undocumented controls and maintenance. did manage to figure some basics to keep engines humming lean.)

Soft Landings,
Rahul