• 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!

NX-CUB First Impressions

Yeah, we had a kid on a solo flight get a Warrior pure-D sideways off the side of the runway at ~ 40 knots. Grass flying everywhere. I was sure that nose gear was coming off.....nope. He’d have got away with it, but left main gear hit a culvert.....and came off. I could not believe how tough those airplanes are.

MTV
 
I saw a solo student lose a Tomahawk on landing, stood it straight up on its nose when it hit the plowed field next to the runway. It balanced on the spinner for what seemed like an awful long time before it fell back on the mains. New prop and it was flying again in two days.
 
We fixed a Cardinal that had a prop strike once. Have seen several Cessna and a Chorekee go off the side of the runway. I've done some dumb stuff but I always seemed to do it in style. ;)
 
Following up, it's been almost a year since Steve posted this thread, and the NX market survey effort is now complete. The aircraft is officially headed for certification and production. Details are on the CubCrafters website. Love it or hate it, these will start showing up at a backcountry strip near you before too long!

PRESS RELEASE - CUBCRAFTERS NOSEWHEEL XCUB HEADED FOR PRODUCTION

Public Market Survey Effort Complete

Yakima, Washington – June 18th, 2020: Following a year-long public Market Survey effort, light aircraft manufacturer CubCrafters has officially decided to certify and offer a nosewheel option for its flagship Part 23 certified aircraft, the CC-19 XCub.

“Putting a nosewheel on a modern Cub type aircraft certainly surprised some people, but the overwhelming public response has been positive, especially among the more than 300 pilots that have had the opportunity to fly the airplane during the Market Survey phase,” comments Brad Damm, CubCrafters VP of Sales & Marketing. “A nosewheel equipped XCub is a very easy airplane to fly that takes off shorter, lands shorter, and cruises faster than the tailwheel version. Once a pilot is in the airplane and experiences it, the advantages are obvious.”

“Engaging our customers in a Market Survey effort for this new nosewheel option has been hugely important,” says Patrick Horgan, President of CubCrafters. “We went into this process not entirely sure if the market wanted to accept a nosewheel-type personal adventure Cub. There is no question now; we’ve had people wanting to place deposits for this aircraft from day one. Our customers have made it very clear that they want us to build this airplane.”

The company also notes that hundreds of hours of real-world use by a variety of pilots of varying skill levels during the Market Survey phase led to many design improvements that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible in an internal-only development setting. Current and prospective customers were able to have a large influence on the final design of the nosewheel option for the aircraft.

“The added capabilities and value offered by the new nosewheel option are game-changing” continues Horgan. “The XCub is easily convertible between nosewheel and tailwheel, so you really get two airplanes in one. A fast, modern, easy-to-fly, tricycle gear aircraft and a traditional big-tire tailwheel Cub together. Both are very capable STOL aircraft designed for the backcountry missions that CubCrafters’ airplanes have always excelled at.”

With an extremely robust trailing-link nosewheel assembly and large tundra tires as an option for the mains, the nosewheel equipped XCub is capable of handling primitive landing strips and most off-airport type operations. Landing loads on the nosewheel are transmitted to the airframe by a heavy duty truss designed just for this application, and the entire nosewheel assembly itself is a bolt-on option that can be removed should the owner want to convert the airplane to a tailwheel configuration.
“This is something I’ve looked forward to for a long time,” comments Jim Richmond, CubCrafters’ Founder and CEO. “I’ve always believed that back-country flying should be open to more than just tailwheel rated pilots, and it’s exciting to see that vision now becoming a reality!”

The XCub program has achieved a number of significant milestones in its short history. After initial FAA certification in June of 2016, the XCub was the first United States General Aviation aircraft to achieve non-TSO’d avionics approval for the Garmin G3X system in 2017. In 2019, CubCrafters collaborated with Lycoming and Hartzell to offer the new light weight CC393i fuel injected 215 horsepower engine and a new high performance PathFinder 3-bladed composite propeller, for the XCub.

Badged as the “NX Cub” for aircraft leaving the Factory in the nosewheel configuration, the new tricycle gear option is available now on experimental XCubs through the company’s Builder Assist program, and CubCrafters expects to achieve FAA Part 23 certification in early 2021.

NX Montains (medium res).jpg
 

Attachments

  • NX Montains (medium res).jpg
    NX Montains (medium res).jpg
    96.3 KB · Views: 435
Last edited:
I have a lot of off airport time in big tired 182’s, 206’s and 207’s. I would think most recreational missions will work just fine with the third wheel in the wrong, I mean different, location........ ;)
 
Wonder if owners switching back and forth(nose and tail) will lead to bent airplanes. I could see that going wrong a couple of ways, involving skill and ego. On the other hand it is a flying machine and I hope everyone who gets one has loads of safe fun with it.
“The XCub is easily convertible between nosewheel and tailwheel, so you really get two airplanes in one. A fast, modern, easy-to-fly, tricycle gear aircraft and a traditional big-tire tailwheel Cub together. Both are very capable STOL aircraft designed for the backcountry missions that CubCrafters’ airplanes have always excelled at.”
 
I have a lot of off airport time in big tired 182’s, 206’s and 207’s. I would think most recreational missions will work just fine with the third wheel in the wrong, I mean different, location........ ;)

I agree, especially in Utah and Idaho. All that power will help with the high density altitudes. That nose wheel might be an issue around here.
IMG_20200605_080055.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20200605_080055.jpg
    IMG_20200605_080055.jpg
    130 KB · Views: 1,305
Dogs safe? You need a cow catcher to keep the cows safe from Paco da Pilot from what I hear.


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
I was interested in the claim that the nose wheel configuration made it faster, and produced better STOL performance. I have to believe a Pacer out runs the venerable Tri-Pacer.


Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org
 
I was interested in the claim that the nose wheel configuration made it faster, and produced better STOL performance. I have to believe a Pacer out runs the venerable Tri-Pacer.


Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org

A stock Pacer vs a stock TriPacer with the same HP, the TriPacer will get off the ground faster than the Pacer. The tri gear allows it to rotate to a higher AoA and produce sufficient lift at a slower speed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
A stock Pacer vs a stock TriPacer with the same HP, the TriPacer will get off the ground faster than the Pacer. The tri gear allows it to rotate to a higher AoA and produce sufficient lift at a slower speed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This might vary depending on the surface. On pavement for sure, but if the little wheel upfront was dragging in he sand?

sj


Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org mobile app
 
I was interested in the claim that the nose wheel configuration made it faster, and produced better STOL performance. I have to believe a Pacer out runs the venerable Tri-Pacer.


Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org

I have flown the Launch Edition X Cub and the prototype NX Cub. I think the difference is the O-360 vs O-375 in performance. Cathy and I flew our Pacer and Tri-Pacer to Oshkosh several years ago. Same engine and prop, she was on 600x6 tires and I was on 29" Bushwheels and we went the same speed at the same rpm and burned the exact same amount of gas.
 
Not all nose wheels are created equal......


85383103-74C3-46AC-A3A1-EC7BDFC7C723.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 85383103-74C3-46AC-A3A1-EC7BDFC7C723.jpg
    85383103-74C3-46AC-A3A1-EC7BDFC7C723.jpg
    71.3 KB · Views: 180
Back
Top