Big News! CUBCRAFTERS DEBUTS NEW FLAGSHIP: XCub

[Steve Pierce]

Not dissing their work. Only doing a value equation. Maybe I've been around these planes too long (since 1962), when they were $3,000.00, NEW!

$300K Really????? Give me a break! They're still a two place, rag wing, powered by 60 year old technology.

Crash

I see and work on quite a few Husky's and they are well north of $300K. Some people have a different mission and skill set. If you figured your labor and cost on any of your airplanes and then add in the engineering that was already proved I bet you would be in the same ballpark. The market will tell if this is a good move for CC. Regardless I am sure what they learned will trickle out and be implimented into peoples experimental builds.

 

[Chicken Hawk]

Wonder if they looked into using composite type spring landing gear......lots of performance cars now running composite leaf springs. Proven to be lighter, stronger & more durable than aluminum & steel.

http://www.compositesworld.com/arti...aving-weight-in-production-suspension-systems

 

[Mauleguy]

I would like to go faster but it is all a compromise. When I was breaking my engine in with the loaner prop from Western Aircraft Propeller my airplane would do a 125 mph on 35" ABW. Now I am running a 44 pitch just so I can cruise a little faster (105 mph at 2500 rpm). I would bet money that with a constant speed prop and small tires like they have on the X cub shown my airplane would do 130 mph, do some fairing work and gain a another 5. If you want to land off airport you need bigger tires and I don't think spring gear is the way to go. Prove me wrong and show the airplane on 31" with spring gear landing on basket ball size rocks and then actual cruise airspeed with a tire that works for off airport.

I will even offer up my services to come test the airplane in an environment that cubs should be able to hang in.

I like what Cubcrafters does in the way of building quality aircraft, they have the resources to better the planes we fly. I just don't think this is anything cutting edge as far as an airplane that suits my needs. I would like to have the weight savings stuff this airplane has minus the parts that don't make sense for a working airplane. I had a cowling on Bushwacker for 11 years that I could not just swing open on each side and it is much nicer having a cub style cowling where I can look at and work on without taking out a bunch of screws.

 

[mghallen]

Kind of like the difference between a Honda Goldwing and an old BMW F700?

 

[skywagon8a]

CUBCRAFTERS DEBUTS NEW FLAGSHIP:XCub


AIRCRAFT
Certification: FAA Part 23 Certified
Category: Normal (2,300 lbs GW) & Utility (1,980 lbs GW)
Type: Single Engine Land & Sea
Crew & Passengers: 2

PERFORMANCE
Maximum Speed: 153 mph in level flight
Cruise (75% power): 145 mph
Rate of Climb: 1,500 ft/min
Endurance: 6+ hrs
Range: 800 mi
Takeoff Distance: 170 ft
Landing Distance: 170 ft

Is this the same airplane that is approved under the new TC A00053SE? If so, those performance numbers are misleading. The TC gives a VNE of 142 mph and a VNO of only 117 mph. These numbers are lower than a PA-18. Let's compare apples to apples. If these numbers have any semblance of accuracy they must be referring to TAS at altitude.

 

[Mauleguy]

http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgMakeModel.nsf/0/f0f5bb0e13acee3d86257fca00675b63/$FILE/A00053SE.pdf

Airspeed Limits VO (2300 lbs) 86 KCASVO (1980 lbs) 79 KCASVFE (46º) 73 KCASVNO 117 KCASVNE 142 KCAS



KCAS
Knots Calibrated Air Speed

 

[skywagon8a]

My info came from a CD which I receive regularly and it said VNE 142 mph KCAS which does appear to be incorrect. Even considering this error a VNO of 117 KCAS = 134 mph. This is a limit and is well under the claimed 145 mph cruise at 75%.

 

[DaveG]

My info came from a CD which I receive regularly and it said VNE 142 mph KCAS which does appear to be incorrect. Even considering this error a VNO of 117 KCAS = 134 mph. This is a limit and is well under the claimed 145 mph cruise at 75%.

145 mph TAS = 125 mph IAS at 8000 ft (~75% power)
DaveG

 

[skywagon8a]

145 mph TAS = 125 mph IAS at 8000 ft (~75% power)
DaveG

Hmmm, we're still stretching the truth. The absolute maximum altitude that this engine can achieve 75% is 7,000 feet.
http://www.maulepilot.com/lycomingperformance.pdf

 

[mvivion]

To me it will be most interesting to see what these airplanes actually weigh empty when they get into production. A stated empty weight of 1200 pounds is a good target, we'll see if they can actually hit it.

MTV

 

[Steve Pierce]

A local pilot took delivery of a new X-Cub on Christmas Eve and has accumulated 49 hours on it so far. He brought it over last Saturday and I spent a lot of time walking around it and looking at the differences between it and a Super Cub. It is obvious that speed was very important by looking at all the fairings. One thing I missed at Oshkosh last year was the lack of aileron control cables up the front lift struts. Instead the X-Cub has carbon fiber pushrods up the rear struts with a bell crank about midway.

Bellcrank in the rear strut.

I notice these tabs on the tops of the elevators. They are the same on bothe the left and right elevators and am not sure what they are.

I noticed that the counter balance on the rudder is shorter than standard Cub and that the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer is thicker and has a sharper nose.

I was told the ventral fin between the fuselage center stringer and the vertical fin was added because when the rudder was pushed into a yaw in cruise the airplane would not come out of it. The ailerons are flexed up. This picture was taken with the stick in the middle and ailerons equal on both sides.

The nose of the aileron is more rounded as well and is probably why they felt more effective and lighter in feel.

 

[Steve Pierce]

As I said before, looking at the X-Cub you can tell it was built with speed in mind. Looking at the windshield.

The Grove gear, gun drilled for brakes and the associated fairings.

and the strut to fuselage, wing and jury strut fairings.

This is serial number 11 and is called a Launch Edition.

 

[Steve Pierce]

I did get to fly it and although I am no test pilot I can say I fly my own Cub almost everyday along with lots of other Super Cubs, Huskys and other similar airplanes. The airplane weighs a little over 1300 lbs empty and we had 34 gallons of gas but it jumped off the ground and felt very nice on the controls. The ailerons were the most notable flight control difference. They felt lighter and more responsive than a standard Super Cub. The electric elevator trim is on the stick with the indicator front and center on the panel and I found it very intuitive. Slow flight both with and without flaps was very stable even though the stall warning horn was blaring the whole time. AS was at zero and I didn't look at the GPS but it felt as slow as my SC. The stall with flaps was typical falling leaf decent with good visibility over the nose and the ailerons still had effectiveness. I did not explore the speed realm of flight but slow flight felt good and stable and I made a nice stable approach to a wheel landing, no bounce but I could tell I was on 26" Goodyears and spring gear rather than 31" Bushwheels and bungee gear. I enjoyed flying it and would enjoy playing with it some more. I felt very comfortable in it, it flies like a Cub. I would like to try some off airport/rough field stuff with the spring gear and a set of Bushwheels.

 

[Eddie Foy]

Trig radio and the CGR-30P.

 

[Steve Pierce]

One hick-up on Sat was when the X-Cub went to leave. The pilot noticed that the right outboard rudder pedal attachment tab to the fuselage had broken. I know, leave it to the mechanic to break the new airplane.

Removed the pedal and the both titanium side panels which allows access to the titanium floorboard and we were able to use a piece of all thread and a piece of tubing as a spacer and weld the tab back on. There was no penetration into the base metal and the other tabs appeared the same way so we ran a bead over them as well and reassembled. I put together a web album of pictures of the failure, and detailed the repair we made and forwarded it to Cub Crafters on Monday morning. We traded several emails and a phone call on Monday and I got a call Tuesday afternoon that a Service Bulletin was in the works and would be issued next week. I got a text from a dealer yesterday that there are 9 airplanes in the fleet so far and that they plan on having them all fixed within two weeks. I thought that was a very fast response to the problem. I figured there would be some teething pains with a new design like this and was very impressed with the quick response to this issue.

 

[Steve Pierce]

Trig radio and the CGR-30P.

They copied you Eddie, they know a good thing when they see it.

 

[Eddie Foy]

Except I did it for $200,000 less.

I could buy one but I would have to live in my RV beside it.

 

[Scouter]

Let's see, 9 units sold at say, average of $300000K for the Launch editions is pretty close to 2.7 million. Not counting the Carbon Cub sales. Pretty decent cash flow for the bean counters? X cub been out for a year now?
jim

 

[john schwamm]

Mike,
I saw a near new X Cub advertised recently, specs said empty weight was 1304 lbs. Pretty heavy in view of having my Husky down to 1309 lbs, with 31" Bushwheels, big tailwheel, extended cub gear with AOSS. Of course the Husky is not as fast, but very similar weight.
I have done some fairing work on the extended cub gear and AOSS, with fairings added about 8MPH to speed vs. uncovered.
Still slower than a Husky with stock gear, but not by much now. We are trying the fairings on our cub to see what that will add.
And one can plop down on AOSS with no bounce, not that I do that!!!
John

 

[Eddie Foy]

My 62 Pa-18 with extended gear, 31s, and aux tanks weighs in at 1205 with no titanium or carbon fiber.

 

[40m]

55 year old orange compared to a 1 year old apple.

 

[txpacer]

My '53 is 1114 lb on extended gear and 31s. It is also painfully slow, but that's OK. Being old and ugly (the plane, that is), I don't get in so much trouble when I drag a wingtip through the trees. I don't think that would be the case on a new, pretty plane.

 

[ScottnT]

55 year old orange compared to a 1 year old apple.

This.

 

[Lasater]

Steve,

Any report from the owner on what his real world cruise speed was in knots?

Ed

 

[mvivion]

Mike,
I saw a near new X Cub advertised recently, specs said empty weight was 1304 lbs. Pretty heavy in view of having my Husky down to 1309 lbs, with 31" Bushwheels, big tailwheel, extended cub gear with AOSS. Of course the Husky is not as fast, but very similar weight.
I have done some fairing work on the extended cub gear and AOSS, with fairings added about 8MPH to speed vs. uncovered.
Still slower than a Husky with stock gear, but not by much now. We are trying the fairings on our cub to see what that will add.
And one can plop down on AOSS with no bounce, not that I do that!!!
John

John,

good information, thanks. It really is amazing how much speed one can get from some relatively simple mods.

MTV

 

[Steve Pierce]

Steve,

Any report from the owner on what his real world cruise speed was in knots?

Ed

I will find out.

 

[Steve Pierce]

Comparing weights between an airplane certified under CAR3 and one certified under Part 23 is a mute point. The structural requirement differences are crazy. Gear has to take a frontal impact which doesn't make much sense in a conventional gear airplane because the stronger gear at a frontal impact will put you on your back rather than sliding on the belly. All the clevis pins have two cotter pins, castle nuts are nylon lock nuts and cotter pins, require two locking devices on flight control fasteners. It is obvious that the X-Cub is for a different market than my beater Super Cub, it is nice to see the inovation and that there are people out there than can buy an airplane like this. Reminds me of back in 1998 when a customer of mine bought a brand new Husky for $98K and all the airport bums poopawed it. It came in and got regular maintenance where their 50 year old airplanes always had some kind of surprise during inspection. I alwys thought you pay now or pay later. I have always had to pay later through sweat equity.