Ercoupe Takeoffs Are Optional

Ercoupe 67H had her 63rd birthday celebration today. According to the original log book, she rolled out of the factory in Riverdale, MD and had a one hour test flight on August 16, 1946. I let 67H out of the cage (hangar), gave her a cup of AeroShell 15/50 along with a 12 gallon shot of fresh 100LL and let her stretch her wings for about an hour. I even let her try a runway at our airport that she had not lifted off from before. Slightly downhill – so she wouldn’t have to work so hard to break free of the ground. But then we did strain a bit in the heat (90 degrees and high humidity) to clear some trees on climb-out.

Today was not a day to take a passenger and load up to gross takeoff weight. The ol’ Conti may have been born with 75 horses, but even with proper care (and great compressions at last annual), those horses don’t seem quite as limber as [I'm sure] they did 63 years ago.