Editor’s note: This is the latest installment in our weekly series called simply the “Friday Photo.” Each week we’ll share a great photo taken from the cockpit – one that shares the joy, beauty or fun of flying. If you’d like to join in, send your photo and description (using the format below) to: [email protected]
The view: Sunset over Nebraska
The pilot: Jerry Tobias
The airplane: 1946 Ercoupe 415-C
The mission: A late-afternoon pleasure flight from Fremont, Nebraska to Wayne, Nebraska and back at 3500 feet.
The memory: After 35 years as a professional pilot (Boeing 747s on down), I now fly a Light Sport-qualified Ercoupe 415-C. It is a fantastic airplane, and “low and slow” is great after so many years of high and fast. The view from, the speed of, and the pleasure of flying this “no-purpose-but-to-enjoy-it” airplane are all just what I was looking for at this end of my career. And, as always, the people I am now meeting because of my Ercoupe make it even that much more enjoyable.
- 9/11/01 — One pilot’s experience - September 11, 2021
- Omaha to Tel Aviv in a Cessna 210 - October 9, 2019
- Airlift to appreciation: spreading a little Christmas cheer in Vietnam - December 18, 2017
I am Looking for Partner
Like you I too spent 2/3 of my life as a professional pilot! Over 20 years as a military aviator. Flying everything from B767 down.
Now I have found my way back to the Ercoupe 415CD! The Ercoupe is the first airplane I remember having a ride in in 1951. My Dad had just traded his 11AC for the coupe!
Having owned serval airplanes. The last being a Bonanza. The Ercoupe has brought back the thrill of being 16 and learning to fly! Low slow and fun no automation just look out the window. The coupe may have the best visibility of any production light aircraft!
Arlan
N3989H