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Carbon Cub Lands on Heli Pad in Dubai

sj

Staff member
Northwest Arkansas
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — (3/14/22) — CubCrafters, in collaboration with Red Bull and extreme sports promotor XDubai, has achieved an unprecedented milestone in aviation by successfully landing a fixed wing Carbon Cub aircraft on the heliport of one of the world's most iconic buildings, the Burj Al Arab hotel, in Dubai, UAE.
The Bulls Eye landing event featured Red Bull Air Race pilot and Carbon Cub owner Luke Czepiela landing a specially modified version of CubCrafters bestselling aircraft on a 27-meter wide helipad suspended 212 meters above sea level atop the 56-story hotel.

“All big moments start with little ideas powered by imagination and the desire to create something special,” stated Patrick Horgan, CubCrafters’ President & CEO. “Red Bull has done many projects over the years that have inspired aviators worldwide, so we were honored to join them on this project to demonstrate the incredible capabilities of the kinds of aircraft our company designs and manufactures."

As Michał Graczyk, Aviation Project Manager for the event explained, “To ensure success, we wanted the airplane best suited to the challenge, and CubCrafters was the obvious choice. They have a long history of innovation and industry leadership, relentless research and development, and an impeccable reputation for the quality of their aircraft. These attributes made us very confident in choosing them as our partner for this event.”

“Throughout the years, CubCrafters’ brand has grown to be synonymous with an adventure lifestyle, and giving pilots the ability to land our airplanes in the most challenging environments is core to our mission,” said Brad Damm, CubCrafters’ Vice President. “This project, two years in the planning and execution, really pushes the limits of what a best-of-class STOL aircraft, and an extremely capable and dedicated pilot, can achieve.”

Renowned bush pilot, aviation engineer, and YouTube personality, Mike Patey, also joined the CubCrafters technical team for the project. Mike, a Carbon Cub owner himself, customized some of the aircraft's features to help ensure a successful outcome. "It was a pretty simple formula. We cut weight, changed the C.G. to increase the effectiveness of the brakes, and added extra horsepower,” said Mike. "I'm really proud of how the airplane performed. The Carbon Cub was a great choice to start with, and we made it even better for this event."

“Working with CubCrafters and Mike Patey to prepare the airplane for this event has been a true pleasure,” declared pilot Luke Czepiela. “During the training and preparation, I developed full confidence in the aircraft and its unique capabilities that enabled me to successfully accomplish this mission.”

Full details about the project, the aircraft, and the team that pulled it off can be found at:
https://cubcrafters.com/redbull
 
Be sure to go to the link and check out the video… fun!
 
Incredible! That first try was terrifying! He almost crashed!!

Bushwheel tire and Acme shock helped to save the day..

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All three times the left wing dipped. Wing tip must have been close, imagine spinning off the top of the building sideways !
 
On that one wheel landing he had a lot more crosswind (look at the sock) with that solid wall of the building it would give you a pretty big ridge lift to pick up that wing as the wind came up the building. It laid down some for the final shot. Great job of dumping the flaps to hit his spot and sticking the mains.
DENNY
 
Short landings are easy if the wind speed is close to approach speed. The helipad landing had to be attempted with light wind to avoid tubulence from the building. Not something I would have attempted. If it went bad it could have gone really bad. Red Bull seems to encourage extreme risk takers. All good fun until someone gets a stick in their eye.
 
Love them or hate them doesn't matter when Redbull starts playing your game the level of play is going way up. Yes being on the Redbull air force is a dangerous job but these guys would be doing a dangerous job without the Redbull gig.
 
Why exactly are we acting like this is a big deal??

It is a cool stunt. No one here could do it. You aren't getting a cub to Dubai, permission, and a good film crew unless you are Redbull. You can celebrate with Redbull or hate on them but if they keep playing the stol game they will excel at it.
 
There are two nitrous boosted Carbon Cubs on my home field. The only thing new is the attention this created, and given it’s an advertising stunt, they’re clearly good at their jobs.
 
Exactly. I’m not hating on RedBull at all. I’m just a grumpy old mechanic who’s weary of hearing about anything with “Patey” or “Carbon” in it.
 
Exactly. I’m not hating on RedBull at all. I’m just a grumpy old mechanic who’s weary of hearing about anything with “Patey” or “Carbon” in it.

Hahahha! I respect old grumpy mechanics and I don't drink RedBull.. But you can't denie this accomplishment. Those guys make the "big deal" happen...

Someone just showed me the video- I’m totally calling the first two “attempts” staged.

First attempt looked like an almost disaster. I'm actually surprised they show part of it in the video.
 
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A Patey Nitrous boosted sponsored Carbon Cub landing on a Dubai 80 foot long skyscraper top helipad is not a "big deal" for you?
No. CC’s have been taking off and landing sub-80 feet for years. So it was a few hundred feet above sea level…? Cool…
 
First attempt looked like an almost disaster. I'm actually surprised they show part of it in the video.
It’s called “building suspense” No way that wasn’t on purpose. The approach on the actual landing was totally different. With the amount of practice that went into this, no chance that guy wouldn’t have gone around long before he touched down on that first one.
 
It’s called “building suspense” No way that wasn’t on purpose.


Droping his left wing that hard on purpose on top of this building???? Suspension could have failed or worse...




But my friend with his J3 says you must be right..... hahahah!!!

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Two friends of mine went over and assembled the airplane. They had a blast. I would have loved to been in on that. The red tape was thick.
 
The un-prepared helipad appears to be surrounded by a low level railing. Some early video showed the gap between the helipad and the rail covered with un-painted plywood. Later video shows this ramp painted so it appears to be part of the pad.

In the video showing practice landings on a painted circle there was a line about 1/3 of the way into the circle which I'm assuming was the target for mains touchdown and intended to prevent tail strike on the edge of the platform.

In the video of the successful landing it appears to me that that the mains contact and run down the plywood ramp and the tail is well over the edge. Perfectly executed or very lucky?
 

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It’s called “building suspense” No way that wasn’t on purpose. The approach on the actual landing was totally different. With the amount of practice that went into this, no chance that guy wouldn’t have gone around long before he touched down on that first one.

You trying to be punny? Yeah, the short length wasn't the big deal for a lot of us, but the penalty for landing a tad short on that building's ramp was pretty severe. The takeoff was a given, not much suspense there. A pretty cool stunt all in all, with some good showmanship.
 
I don’t get it. Except right after it happened I got an email from them asking me to buy their stock.
 
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