Engineering and Research Corporation Ercoupe 415-C, Pilot Operating Handbook, Page: 10 / 27

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enough to nose it into the ground and thereby put excessive loads
on the nose gear.
Either of these conditions can be checked (by immediately opening
the throttle) and at the same time exercising care not to lower the
nose by pushing forward on the control wheel. On the other hand,
there is no point in steaming in at excessively high speed, even
though the speed doesn't complicate things as it might were the air
plane not landing level as it does on tricycle gear. It is therefore
recommended that the normal approach speed be held to the
suggested range of 60 to 70 MPH.
If, in the approach to landing, the pilot finds that he is overshooting
slightly, he can nose the airplane down, remembering to level off
and check the vertical velocity and put it on the ground
immediately at a relatively high speed. With immediate application
of the brakes, the landing will require decidedly less overall
distance than it would if the airplane were held off the ground until
minimum speed had been reached. Also, if the approach has been
made at too high an altitude the flight path can be steepened by
rolling the airplane from side to side, dipping each wing 20 or 30
degrees. If the altitude is sufficiently high this can be done
satisfactorily with the wheel full back, and height is lost quite
rapidly, but, because of the high vertical velocity attained, the
airspeed reading should be increased to 60 MPH or above at an
altitude of about 200 feet, and the flight direction should be held
straight from about 50 feet altitude to the ground
In making cross wind landings, the airplane is headed or crabbed
into the wind (See page 13). As the ground is approached the flight
path is leveled o f f , and the airplane is held off the runway in the
conventional manner until it loses flying speed.
Contact is made with the ground while the airplane is still crabbed
and the nose automatically swings so as to line the plane up and
permit it to continue moving in the direction in which it was
moving in the approach. Therefore, at the time of contact the
control wheel should be held lightly or momentarily released to
permit this automatic adjustment. During the ground run, hold a