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People often say they would consider flight training if only flying an airplane was easier—more like driving a car. This has been a perennial theme since the early days of general aviation.

Many designers have sought to maximize stability, simplify controls, and limit overall performance in an effort to produce airplanes that nearly fly themselves as pilots “drive” them through the air. Historically the result has been quite a few easy-to-fly aircraft but only one that won an award for being stall-proof and spin-proof: the Ercoupe.

In fact the award went to Fred Weick, the renowned aviator and designer who developed the Ercoupe with controls that allowed pilots to fly without inadvertently stalling and entering a spin. A succession of companies built several thousand Ercoupes from the 1930s through the ’60s, and the innovative machine maintains a devoted following. If you regularly attend vintage fly-ins you probably have seen several Ercoupes.

Modern manufacturers continue to build aircraft with features intended to make them easier and safer to fly, often through automation and other technological advances. Pilots are also likely to debate endlessly about the Ercoupe’s spin-proof claims. Many Ercoupe’s fans, however, feel Weick got it absolutely right way back in the 1930s.