What is an Ercoupe?
The Ercoupe is a single engined, light aircraft, made primarily in the mid to late 1940's. It was designed with some ground breaking features to make it easier and safer to fly than its contemporaries. Amongst these innovaions, were tricycle landing gear for safer ground handling (that nearly all aircraft have now), automatic rudder controls, spin-proof design and all metal construction.About my Ercoupe, N94805.
N94805 is a 1948 Ercoupe 415-E. Built by Sanders, at the original ERCO factory in Riverdale, Maryland.
N94805 has had some changes over the years. The engine was upgraded from the original C-85 to an O-200a in 1999. The wings were changed from fabric to metal in the 70's. Rudder pedals were added in the 60s.
N94805 has a 12V electrical system, with an alternator and electric starter. Standard six-pack instruments are installed, including a solid state artificial horizon. A Garmin 495 GPS is installed (portable), as is a uAvionix Sentry (ADS-B in) and TailBeacon (ADS-B out). There is no vacuum system, the venturi's have been removed.
She cruises at about 100mph, burns 5.5 gallons of AVGAS per hour, and has an endurance of about 3.5 hours (with reserves) with 24 gallons on board.
About James, the pilot.
My Dad is a pilot with 1,000 hours of Tiger Moth time. Growing up in England, he set the aviation bug inside of me, although computer programming became my main interest in my teens. In my 30's, living in Miami, I started building and flying balsa wood model aircraft which reignited the love of flying; a calm morning and a nice flying model doing touch and go's was much fun! That eventually led to me starting my flight training in a Cessna 172. I solo'd afer 9 hours, did my cross countries, but stopped flying before getting my certificate. Life happens... I started up again in 2015, after moving to California.
With the help of my friend Andrew, I bought '805 from a gentleman in Sunriver, Oregon in late 2015. I finished my flight instruction in it, and got my private certificate in 2017.
Since then, I've had the good fortune to be able to fly myself in my own aircraft from California to Wisconsin and back, flown my parents, flown my son to the High-Sierra Fly-In on a dry lake bed, flown my wife to the Pacific ocean, a US Air Force base and the Mohave desert, it's been amazing! Getting your certificate is 100% recommended. The affordability of an Ercoupe is also key here, since a 'used Toyota Camry' budget can get you into the game. I wish more people knew that...
My GoPro Camera Setup.
Most of my videos (Oshkosh, Vegas, HoodRiver, Amboy, etc) have been shot using GoPro Hero 3+ cameras. But I have recently upgraded to the much
improved Hero 7 for the external views, and a Hero 8 for the cockpit.
For audio, I had problems with getting the GoPros to reliably use the analogue audio output from the intercom, so I switched to a simple Sony digital voice recorder,
the Sony ICD-PX370.
I use an Nflightcam audio cable to get my intercom/radio audio into the Sony recorder. Here's an image of my GoPro Hero 8, mounted to my map reading light for the 'over the shoulder' view:
I use a Delkin Fat Gecko mount to put my camera on the wing/tail.
Facts and Figures.
| Country of origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) |
| Produced | 5,685 aircraft between 1940 & 1969 |
| N94805 Built | 1948 |
| Purchase price when new | $2,665 (about $50,000 in 2020 dollars) |
| Used price now | Around $25,000 |
| Powerplant | Continental C-75, C-85 or C-90, air cooled horizontally opposed piston engine |
| N94805 Powerplant | Continental O-200 (100HP) |
| Empty weight | 950 lbs |
| Max take-off weight | 1400 lbs |
| Crew | 1 or 2 |
| Wing span | 30ft |
| Cruise speed | 95 mph |
| Cruise fuel burn | 5.5 gph |
| Never exceed speed | 144 mph |
| Max altitude | 12,000 feet |
| Range | 350 miles |
| Max cross wind component | 25 mph |