Showcasing wonderful Xplane11 freeware, SimHeaven's forests and the cool Ercoupe, which I flew in Texas over a decade ago.  Even at gross it could carry me and a pilot at my weight back then, 220#.  Now some years later I weight the standard pilot weight of 170#, so if I ever find a good Ercoupe where the 1320 pound STC for Light Sport is applicable, I will get one, preferably with the rudder pedal mod if I can find one.  The Ercoupe I flew did not have rudder pedals and I steered it like a car when taxing.  I flew it takeoff to touchdown, coming in crabbed to compensate for a light crosswind component.  I wanted to purchase it but it was hard to start, in need of an overhaul, so I had to pass.  We flew with the windows down, just like this Xplane11 Ercoupe, which was great in the warm Texas summer sun.  Afterwards I hung out with the pilot and his friend, they also had a Lancair IVP which was my first up close look at a pressurized piston aircraft.

John

Great plane. Great trees. Pretty combo.

John

Looking great together!

Nice looking forests.

Now to the Ercoupe:  Excellent images!  The Ercoupe became one of my favorite GA SEL a/c after I got to do a close up inspection of one in Jacksonville, FL, at an older Holiday Inn (could have been another hotel, I can't remember which) back around 1996. It was hanging on permanent display in the lobby. Man, my memory sure is flaky these days. I'm having a tough time remembering the exact area it was in. I seem to recall there were a lot of large photo reprints of an old airport. If someone from JAX knows of this and can elaborate, I'd be most appreciative.

To OP, not trying to hijack your thread, but to add a little more love for the Ercoupe. Fun little a/c to fly for sight seeing. Great visibility from the cockpit.

Thanks for posting!

John: Nice greenery and vegetation scenery along with, yes, a "cool" a/c...BTW, good to see you expand beyond your "home-zone"...great to get (guided) SIM-tours (a/c notes included) of these other regions of the country, almost non-existent around here...

I recall these areas from many (many) years ago...e.g. visiting the Mammoth Caves and the Corvette Factory further south from Louisville on I-65...need to go there again some time...prompted by your post...

42 minutes ago, beechcaptain said:

Nice looking forests.

Now to the Ercoupe:  Excellent images!  The Ercoupe became one of my favorite GA SEL a/c after I got to do a close up inspection of one in Jacksonville, FL, at an older Holiday Inn (could have been another hotel, I can't remember which) back around 1996. It was hanging on permanent display in the lobby. Man, my memory sure is flaky these days. I'm having a tough time remembering the exact area it was in. I seem to recall there were a lot of large photo reprints of an old airport. If someone from JAX knows of this and can elaborate, I'd be most appreciative.

To OP, not trying to hijack your thread, but to add a little more love for the Ercoupe. Fun little a/c to fly for sight seeing. Great visibility from the cockpit.

Thanks for posting!

I agree the Ercoupe I flew over Texas, up to the Oklahoma border was a lot of fun.  I flew out of Denison then up over lake Texoma.  It was the only time I flew as PIC (with a CFI alongside me) from one state, to another (without touching down) and back.  The view out of the Ercoupe, plus the fresh breeze since we had the windows rolled down, was just amazing.  That Ercoupe also had the fabric wings, made it lighter than the all metal Ercoupe, gave it more oomph for us since we were two heavier pilots.  Wish I could have bought it, I had a CFI all lined up, Jim Blumer, who would have ferried it back for me.

I flew to inspect it from Phoenix to DFW and stayed at the airport hotel there.  I am a hotel business systems trainer and two things bothered me about that trip.  First, I rented a car on a sparkling clear day, all day, there were some thunderboomers far to the east of Dallas.  When I returned my Enterprise rental, never having a problem with them before, they tried to claim I had hail damage. 

I said "Now wait a minute, do not try that scam on me, I have connections with Enterprise, I am in the hotel business, and you do not want to lose your referrals"  I also mentioned that I had clearly noted dings on the rental contract that they signed off on.  They dropped the issue, but my temper had flared to the point that I was almost ready to drop the Enterprise agent and take the assault charge, I loathe car rental scams, be wary of them, this comes from a long time biz traveler with over 500,000 air miles logged.

The second issue at the Airport Hotel, I was eating alone at lunch and saw a sign there "Business meals will be charged an additional 15 percent".  I could not believe that, I have worked for many hotel chains as a management and systems instructor, and we did not deliver hospitality in such a rude way to our business guests, which were our bread and butter, especially pilots and flight crew in airport hotels that would often have business debriefings over their meals.  I wrote about the incident on trip advisor, I do not recall the chain or know if it is still under that chain, but I felt that was a slur on what was supposed to be guest service. 

Business meals are very common at airport hotels, I had them all the time because airport hotels were often my clients, the biggest being the Holiday Inn at Houston and the JFK Hilton back in '99, which I converted to a Best Western.  I was always asked to teach at airport hotels since I was one of twenty lead instructors that supervised about one hundred junior instructors, and I was well seasoned to deal with teaching in such a busy 24/7 environment, since airport hotels have check ins and check outs around the clock.

John