• If You Are Having Trouble Logging In with Your Old Username and Password, Please use this Forgot Your Password link to get re-established.
  • Hey! Be sure to login or register!

A few, hopefully fresh, super-cub hints if you want them.

Spent a long weekend at the cabin many winters ago in bad weather. No big deal, had shelter, had a wood stove, had hatchet picked for it's light weight, didn't have much wood. After that long weekend, I carry the lightest axe that can be used with two hands. Not quite as convenient or light as the hatchet and the hammer end isn't anywhere near as easy to use, but if you have to chop enough wood to stay warm, it might be the right choice.

The old man took it to the extreme....his C-180 never left town without a full double-bitted axe with him.
 
I carry a hatchet. Good thing as I've needed it a couple of times. As much as the chopping side comes in handy the hammer side is good to have, too. Mine rides in the survival pack, not the tool kit.

http://www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?45224-Onboard-tool-kit

I carry this http://www.amazon.com/Estwing-E45A-...F8&qid=1378762759&sr=8-1&keywords=axe+estwing Made in the USA

4.3 pounds and tough. only a little heavier then a hatchet and I think a little safer to use. Next time your in the Hwd store pick it up, it's lite for it's size.

Glenn
 
Mine's an Estwing. Shorter though, to fit in the pack. Works great. I picked up a small Ultimate Survival brand hatchet for the snowgo. It's a good tool for the size and weight. It has what most hatchets lack. A good hand grip. The little Gerber camp hatchets are the worst. Take a medical kit if you're using one of those.
 
Last edited:
I used to carry hatchet but went to single blade ax with 3/4 length wood handle. Took hammer out of tool bag. Attlee has a metal one that bolts to gear leg. You could use it as a step, might be a problem if you are mounted wrong and you slip.:smile:
DENNY
 
I carry this http://www.amazon.com/Estwing-E45A-...F8&qid=1378762759&sr=8-1&keywords=axe+estwing Made in the USA

4.3 pounds and tough. only a little heavier then a hatchet and I think a little safer to use. Next time your in the Hwd store pick it up, it's lite for it's size.

Glenn

That's what I use.

I would second what Stewart said about the Gerbers. Tried one of those; carried it in the -12, tried it for grins one day at the cabin, it stayed at the cabin, was replaced by the Estwing. No. 1 son used the Gerber at the cabin. Hauled it out for his wife to use around the house and in the garden. Wife threw it away.
 
I was just reading another thread and went off just a little. So again, I figured I would add a little on this thread to help the Cub guys get a little used to things they may see. Just a little refresher food for thought.

The best I have been able to do in a cub as far as recovering from a spin is around 400 feet. When a cub/12 has extended wing tips without the ailerons being brought out to the tips, I see most of them go to what appears to be completely inverted. Most guys will floor it at that point which almost makes the problem worse. In the ensuing pull out, even after letting the aircraft settle into a 3-5 turn spin the aircraft will overspeed in the dive if your not pulling back on the stick a little. If the event is just a spin entry with opposite rudder, the normal guy whom is not used to it will floor it at the same time the wing is going over the top in a spin to the left, making the situation worse. This is with a relatively clean wing. It is not impressive to learn how to do a 5 turn spin. It is impressive to recognize when it is starting and cure it at that point. An airfoil works best when the airflow is attached to it. I was asked what should I do if I ever find myself in a spin. I said tell yourself your a moron for not recognizing and correcting it before it fully developed. Then die if your too low. Just kidding, I would never say that. But, stall/spin recognition is where it is at.

See, in the older days you had to perform spins. We all have heard that. Training in the old days was awesome because planes were cheap and you got to do all these cool things during training. Lots of emphasis was put into airplane stick and rudder. Now, it is extra money to get the same training. If you haven't practiced stalling an airplane in over a year, you should be ashamed of yourself. So, shame on you and go get someone who wants to stall your airplane from the rear seat. Cubs produce a pile of lift for what they weigh. So if one wing quits flying, the other one will gladly keep flying and wind you up like a top. You ought to see a Bird Dog spin. Wow. So, what should you do in the normal world? If you are going to start maneuvering, add flap at the flap screw. That is the screw at the bottom right of your airspeed indicator. It will reduce your stall speed. Give you a little stall protection. After all, why is that white line sooooo long. Why not just put on all the flaps in the last 10 mph before stall right? Use a notch of flaps when you are in the flap range and maneuvering. Remember what happens to the stall speed at a 60 degree bank. It goes up enough to hurt you. AGAIN, USE ONE NOTCH OF FLAPS IF YOU ARE IN THE FLAP RANGE CAPTAIN! Especially if you have that fat A!@ buddy in the back. Har!

Flaps. Use them please. Don't get into a hurry to take them off. Stop thinking just because you hit 500 fpm that it is time to dump them, (or above the trees ), when you know you are going to start a turn. I swear if I hear that one more time I am gonna barf. I have had three people a day for the last 25 years try and kill me by taking off the flaps too early whilst turning after take off. Leave them on until the darn thing is flying good. Geez. Quit taking them off so fast and quit yanking them on below flying speed for 3 notches. It is fun to practice taking off short but in the heat of the battle use a little more runway to make sure you are at flying speed. If that CUB starts jumping when you pull on to much flap during the flap yanking thing. Put it back on the ground and roll a little then try it again but above min. flying speed for that particular flap setting.

VG's... The thing about VG's is that everyone practices spins or all the wierd stuff usually solo and therefore it is hard to spin the aircraft because of forward c.g. Usually, it will be real hard to spin the airplane to the right because of the lack of airflow working on the airplane to help it spin right. Left easier than right. So, then dude jumps in his airplane with his 250 pound buddy and decides to play at low airspeeds. He doesn't add any flap at the flap screw (anyone know what that is?) and starts a right hand turn in his cub with V.G.'s. Now if your left eye dominant and right handed, chances are your going to turn left around whatever your looking at. If you start in a right hand turn and see that moose or bare chested hiker you will want to swing your airplane left and bam. You just found out you were too slow, climbing and just entered the turn leading with the left rudder and had a little rear c.g. You just created a stall spin with vg's to the left. If you were at pivitol altitude when it happened, chances are you started to pull the nose up and away from the ground. That did not help your cause.

Next, VG's problem. You were good at making consistent 400 footer full stall landing with your 41mph cub. Now, you just bought 700 dollars worth of stall lowering equipment. Now you have a 32 mph stalling cub. Add 35's, strakes, flap mods and all that other stuff and now your at 26mph. It is horrible that most of the wind in the fall and winter usually blows at 25 g 32 in Alaska. Are you good enough to land that airplane at one mile an hour of forward groundspeed. Are you practiced enough to know what that looks like? Maybe, maybe not. A 10 knot crosswind will act like a 40 knot crosswind in a regular airplane. The only fix for that is do more practicing I guess. Remember, all these mods make the airplane fly slower and react slower. It sounds safer but sometimes it takes a lot of skill to get the thing on the ground. I have no skill whatsoever and therefore I know I need to have extra wingtips in the shop if I owned a shop that it is.

Those 35 are nice and I want a set. Remember that as they get taller, you lose forward vision on the ground. I have never heard of anyone hitting the air hard enough to wrinkle a wing or a fuselage but I hear everything in front of the airplane you hit usually takes it pretty hard. If you stomp on the brakes with 1/2 tanks, the gas sloshing forward might just do you in. The 12's get so light in the tail with big motors and long mounts that most of my new student 12 owners I make fly with weight in the baggage.

Gas. Two pilots take off. Both had one hour in the left tank and had 1.3 hours of flying to do. One pilot opted to put gas from the old Ford-Ferguson in the right tank just in case. Guess who made it home. Nobody. Because one talked the other and they both decided they were both kind dumb. They opted to turn around and just get more gas.

GPS. Terrain avoidance is awesome. Highly recommended. But, geez, ya got to learn how to use it fer crying out loud. Do you know how to navigate on instruments with the thing? I always had a point in each large area I flew in. For instance, off the west side of runway 26 in Unalakleet I had a user waypoint. It was call FUK#. I used it in case I was following Tweeto. He could see through fog. I could not. So when I was following the shoreline and flew out over a point, I knew turning back to the shoreline would result in Cessna carnage all over the coast. So, I could just go to that way point, turn to the landing runway heading and keep the bearing/runway numbers the same. If I pulled the power off, most of the time I would end up on runway. These passes? Ptarmigan will hurt you, Tahetna will hurt you. They will all hurt you if you enter them knowing that you have a 90% chance of making it through. That means that 10% of the time in 100 tries you will die or come close to it. No GPS will get you out of anything. You have to get you out of it. That is a huge difference. Use your gps when it is nice out get real used to flying low. It is the only real way of learning the little hills and bumps so when you have to depend on you, maybe you will be able to yourself out of it. How's that for a ramble?

Anyhow, after a having 15 hours of total cub instructing time. I figured I would share a few things on this. What it all comes down to is practice makes a better cub pilot. If you are unsure get that instructor in there. Two hours is still cheap.

Artic
 
Alright, it's official! I'm a 1954 PA-18-95 owner! I can't tell you how excited I am. I soled in a J3 and got about 40hrs in it then switched to a Cessna to get my PPL. Been flying my husbands C172 (180hp) with fat tires off our grass and didnt feel the joy--it felt like cockpit management. He finally saw the beauty in a Tailwheel on our grass strip. We found this SC and its what we were looking for. My question is since I'm a J3 lover , what differences should I expect or watch out for as I learn this plane? We live in a really flat area and I plan on flying it just to grasshop around. Turns out I'm the only one in the family with current Tailwheel endorsement so Ill be the primary flyer for a bit. I respect y'all's experience and hope you have some advice for me! Quite frankly I generally dont do any paved runway landings and will have to work on that with a CFI. Comments and advice welcome!

Most fun Cub ever for what you say your mission is. Great visibility and more power than a J3 which comes in handy on a hot day around here with two on board. Pretty straight forward airplane. Just have to manage the two fuel tanks if so equipped and the typical carb ice issues with small Continentals. Can't wait to get ours back in the air. Which one did you buy?
 
I used to carry hatchet but went to single blade ax with 3/4 length wood handle. Took hammer out of tool bag. Attlee has a metal one that bolts to gear leg. You could use it as a step, might be a problem if you are mounted wrong and you slip.:smile:
DENNY
I picked up the atlee axe it's the Estwing E-45A the brackets clamp to the left gear they drilled a hole in the head and one in the handle of the axe that slide on to the pins of the clamps 2 rubber washers and a quick pin on a cable so they won't get lost the part # was AD-18-SA it's a little pricey at $145 I've only flown 5 hours with it on there but seams to ok so far. And it is marked no step
 
Artic,

I'm amazed that you write so well given that your parents are so bad at spelling.

Forgive the plug- but for any tailwheel pilot (in AK) of any experience level, taking a ride with Artic in the back is a real winner. I look forward to getting two years older and always learn something when I do.

Jerry
 
Dito what Jerry said... Same goes for Artic's dad....both great instructors... Hope your pops is out in moose camp...
Ron
 
Thanks Jerry, I think...

Artic,

I was musing about the time I asked your dad why he left the "c" out. He said " Ya know I was never that good at spelling and I wasn't gonna name him "Northern Lights".....

You write like he tells a story. I enjoy the heck out of both. Keep it up.

Jerry
 
Aw shucks guys. Just trying to help. I think Dad drank a little when I was a kid. Just kidding!
 
Most fun Cub ever for what you say your mission is. Great visibility and more power than a J3 which comes in handy on a hot day around here with two on board. Pretty straight forward airplane. Just have to manage the two fuel tanks if so equipped and the typical carb ice issues with small Continentals. Can't wait to get ours back in the air. Which one did you buy?
I got the PA-18-95 out of Vermont. Has one fuel tank. Its an original color (Tampico) so you don't see any around like this. Lighter battery under seat, radios, lights. It flies GREAT. Very pleased with it. Has great visibility. Landings are great. Looking forward to wearing a path in the runway. :)
 
Congratulations - that looked like a real nice one. Too nice for me, knowing my tendency to put dents in things. The guy that sold it to the previous owner said he wished he had held onto it. Hope to see it at the OBP fly-in.
 
Congratulations - that looked like a real nice one. Too nice for me, knowing my tendency to put dents in things. The guy that sold it to the previous owner said he wished he had held onto it. Hope to see it at the OBP fly-in.
Thanks!Well, I figure its got a small dent in the wing already so no pressure there! BillT told me the tail is too bare and needs a sticker on it ;-). I don't think I've earned that yet!! I'll start with a window sticker and once I do some OBP hilltops I'll earn one for the tail. ;)
 
Beth no hills required just attend one of the winter breakfast adventures once the beans are harvested

018.JPG
 

Attachments

  • 018.JPG
    018.JPG
    1.8 MB · Views: 1,274
That sounds like fun! Let me know when! I'll bring the "Mint Julep" as we are jokingly calling 80C. I went to my first fly-in today at Winemiller's--I can guarantee we were the only mint green SuperCub there--actually the only SuperCub at all. :) Heck of a tailwind coming back in front of the cold front. Thank God it was right down our runway. Not sure but what I touched down at walking speed. This plane is great--getting along like peas and carrots.
 
image.jpgOk--my first question about my SC. The air intake is split and the second wraps around to the right side and has a encasement at the oil temp bulb. Someone I know has a C90 and doesn't have this feature. Wouldn't this give erroneous temp measurements? Ive had answers Both Ways. I'm no mechanic. Sorry the pic loaded sideways. Any in-sites would be welcome.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 179
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 427
FYI--I took it off and is doing fine. Temp 165-170. Will see if that changes next summer but is fine for now.( and now doesn't rattle around)
 
Howdy. It's been a while since I have been on here. I always learn something fer sure.

Tree-effect: The act of taking a 90 thousand dollar Super Cub and placing it in close proximity of trees. Usually experienced with screaming and a shatting of the pants.

I have been doing a pile of 709 ride training. I'd like to share some of the more interesting points of the whole experience and a few points on plane operation. Granted, I am no expert and when I do something stupid it is gonna be awesome! Like upside down into your kitchen or something...

All of the incidents/accidents in cubs seem to be taking off and landing. You probably would never guess that, right? Anyhow, most those takeoffs are not from being over gross, just overweight for the operation that is being performed. I see a trend in guys filling the airplane to the top with gas, putting in a moderate load and zipping on down the runway with the outcome seriously in doubt. They are not at a weight that would be termed over gross but they waaaaayyyy too heavy to comfortably take off.

Pilots will pull flaps (flap jacking), half way down the takeoff roll and then stagger off just out of control of being in controlled. That means you are out of control? If you have to use more runway to make sure you are at takeoff speed, please do. It does no good to haul it off in ground effect until you get into tree effect. See tree effect requires steel plates on the front of your Catto prop and about 70 thousand. If you have that no sweat, please proceed. You are in no need of this rant. Please use this procedure if you are in doubt; full power, tail in air, accelerate to flying speed (say Vx for best climb) then try to climb at a Vx that is built for your airplane, not the published flying speed unless you have a stock cub. Get a good instructor to help you determine that speed.

Another pretty good point is that on these super-rough strips, please keep the thing on the ground as much as you can until you, again, are at a speed which will at least get you into ground effect with a smooth transition to Vx. Please don't have the accident where you kept trying to make it fly at 25mph from being launched off large bumps or tundra. Sometimes you will have to drive it back onto the runway, repeatedly until it is at that flying speed. Yes, the guides/135 guys have been making that mistake also. The proof is in the accident pudding. Some have been bouncing off the side of the runway when in this weird condition. It has been helping a lot of pilots encounter tree effect.

Lets see... ah, beaches. (This one is kinda obvious but hell, no one really told me what leads to children so here goes... ) If you land on large grade/sloped beaches and if you try to land with your wings level, you may hit the tip furthest from the water. That means the wingtip closest to the beach shore. We had a couple of guys hit logs on the shore side thinking they had room for that wingtip there. Sometimes you just have to call it quits. Maybe just find a flatter beach to land on. These helicopter rides are kind of expensive and I sure wish these local helicopter outfits would sell something like fly out three cubs and get the 4th one for free...like a tree-effect punch card.

The slow stall thing in a left hand turn seems to be subsiding a little. Please remember that if you are in that climbing right turn and decide to make the hard left. You sir, may encounter tree effect.

Other than that. The Flight Review process has been great. I see improvement in the willingness of guys to try and be safe. Please shut the engines off when you are loading and unloading people. I have seen that one like 4 times this month. All it takes is one time to encounter "Splatter Effect." If you have the time. Just shut the darn thing off. Please remember, these are just educated opinions. Hope it helps!

Last, we are having a Sport-Pilot seminar from 6-9PM. at the school on Saturday, Sept.20th. Free. Please bring your own lawn chair as this class usually is pretty big. We have Super-Pete putting on the class. He is our expert in that area. He knows the trade.

Artic
 
Where is this school? I drove out but couldn't find it. Checked the high school, the middle school, the school warehouse, your hangar. I saw something about the Noisy Goose, but didn't find anything there either. Got an address for next time?
 
Where is this school? I drove out but couldn't find it. Checked the high school, the middle school, the school warehouse, your hangar. I saw something about the Noisy Goose, but didn't find anything there either. Got an address for next time?Sorry you couldn't find it. We will be having another seminar next Saturday. Owner maintenance. If you have any questions, we are always close by to help you out.


Sorry you couldn't find it. 821 Airport Road. It is at the old Bishop (Nugget aviation) hanger at Palmer just off Evergreen/ Airport Road, just north of the stop sign if you are heading to the FSS station. It is our new home and we hadn't changed the address on the website yet. If you have any questions or want to know more about Sport Pilot or LSA, please call us at 907-746-2290 and we will get your questions answered.
 
I'd like to add a few things. First off the single best modification to any aircraft is a proficient pilot(i.e. training/practice)
Go-Arounds: There's a difference between a GA versus a balked landing. What I consider a typical go around offers little issue to even a fair wx pilot because you have SOME altitude and airspeed(~50-100+ AGL and 1.1-1.3Vs0 all of which allows reaction time and time to sort out coordination, configuration and power setting. If you're on airspeed and on trim just pour the coals to it and the resultant pitch change with the power application will get the weekend warrior out of most of the trouble). The clean up process is much less an issue when you've had the time and altitude to play with and starting in a relatively high energy state. My airline considers a balked landing a go around or rejected landing basically anytime after that 50 foot auto call-out is made by our GPWS/Radar Altimeter just because anytime after that we've changed our pitch attitude to "flare" and started reducing power entering the "low energy" state. This changes our profile from just "go around, set thrust, flaps 8. Positive rate, gear up" for a GA and "Go around, set max thrust, check spoilers. positive rate, positive trend(airspeed), flaps 8, gear up" for a balked landing. I make this translate to small planes for all go arounds by adding power and simultaneously pitching to slightly above the horizon ~5-10*(might get some initial settling still but at least you won't be playing lawn darts with the nose pointed at the ground)works for pretty much everything I fly but depends on your plane and of course eyeballed in all the planes w/o an attitude indicator that only practice in that specific plane will determine. For balked type landings when you've touched down or T/O's where you're bouncing down the strip - in Multi's practicing OEI or V1 cuts it can be extremely useful to pin it to the ground build up to a specific airspeed Vy, Vx or whatever is your target airspeed to attain for rotation or initial climb keeping in mind the turbulence penetration objective that may be coming until it's absolutely necessary to rotate to avoid terrain/obstacles. On all Windshear recovery, max performance take offs or go arounds I always taught my students you're probably more likely to clear your obstacles and meet required climb gradients in the initial climb by focusing on precise pitch control and airspeed than jump the gun to clean up the flaps and gear immediately and cash in some of the potentially life saving kinetic energy you've attained by averting your attention to configuration changes. My thoughts on any GA: Pitch and Power simultaneously, maintain configuration until obstacle clearance is assured then clean it up.
 
I don't have many landings under my belt yet, so I do a few more go arounds than the average Cub pilot, and I think practicing them is a must. Due mostly to inexperience, I sometimes forget to take off the carb heat, and once didn't have the throttle full forward. Another time I forgot to richen the mixture. Each time I was landing on a 5000' strip, so it wasn't a close call, but it could have easily been on a short strip with an obstacle. Practicing a consistent procedure is the only way to minimize the chance of making a simple mistake.
 
I could 't agree more Rich! I always used a specific power setting or configuration interval as a reminder to do a pre-landing check. You can do a lot of things at different times but a few items to double check abeam your touch down point or reducing power to 1,800 or once you pull in your last notch of flaps never hurt anyone!
 
Back
Top