Super Legend

[Lasater]

We are in the process of purchasing a Super Legend cub. My father is ready to go to LSA after almost 60 years of flying. We have gone back and forth between Carbon Cub and the Super Legend. Equipped, the Super Legend is significantly cheaper than the Carbon Cub, although both cost for more than a Cub should cost. We also liked the fact that most of the parts for the Legend are standard Piper that can be purchased from any of several vendors. The airframe, except for a few mods and 3 additional inches in width, is identical to the PA-18. I also like the doors on both sides.

The one question I have is whether or not to get vg's. I have vg's on my PA-14 and think they are the best mod for the money. The person I spoke with at Legend had mixed feelings on vg's for their cubs. He said they were effective. However, he felt that at their lighter weights, the vg's made the airplanes harder to control on the ground in gusty winds because the airplane wants to fly. He also said that the vg's make the full power stalls much more abrupt with less warning. The empty weight on this airplane should be around 865 pounds.

So, what do the owners of J-3's, PA-11's, 90 and 105 hp PA-18's think? Vg's or no vg's?

 

[G44]

Having had BLR/Cub Crafters VG's on my Super Cub and really liking them… I would probably say "no" to VG's on the Super Legend for the same reasons Legend stated above.

They are good on some airplanes but bad on others, even some that are STC'ed for VG's.

G44

 

[BradleyG]

VG's can save your life. To me, full directional control with no power and aft full stick is more important than worrying about VG's and taxi in windy conditions. It was for me, when my only option was to make the only open area available.

 

[Bugs66]

The one thing would change on the Super Legend is the Cessna 172 spinner. That thing has to go. Other than that, sure looks nice.

 

[bob turner]

I fly my J-3 right on the edge - no VGs. It exhibits no adverse tendencies, so long as the ball is centered. I fly Super Cubs with both BLR and Micro VGs. A couple of them had no VGs when I started flying them. I am not a good enough pilot to tell the difference, except on one bird I had a difficult time entering a spin with the Micros. No trouble at all with the BLRs.

I believe VGs would help the Charley Center wing. My buddies at UCSD tell me that VGs are to correct design mistakes. Some say that Vgs reduce stall speed by 15 mph and increase cruise speed by a couple mph. Most say they give you a slight advantage at slow speeds - I suppose I could buy that.

All opinion, of course.

 

[WWhunter]

They are pretty simple to install at a later date. Fly the plane for a while and then decide. I flew my RANS S7 for a year before I installed VG's. It made a noticible difference in slow speed handling.

As the above posters have mentioned, some wings can greatly benefit from them and others not so much. I was going to put them on my 172 until I read a post from, I think it was Mike Vivon, stating he didn't see much benefit on the Cessna wing. He has flown many thousands more hours than I and researched it more and read several others saying they didn't notice much on the Cessna wing so I saved my money.

Not sure which brand of VG's they install on the Legend but there are several brands out there that are very inexpensive. I think I paid $100 for the last set I purchased.

Congrats on the purchase!!! I have drooled over that plane and think Legend does a very nice job at building.

 

[G44]

If you do install VG's, use 2 side tape on the install to see if you like them. If so, remove and re install with glue, if no, remove and fly.

G44

 

[Steve Pierce]

Installed VGs on a 900 lb plus 90 hp Super Cub that I was pretty intimate with. More aileron control at slow speeds was what I saw. Darin, Pat and the other Legend guys have more time than any in their Cubs.

 

[JP]

VGs. What Pierce says.

 

[behindpropellers]

I fly a legend from time to time with vgs. Sure is stable and flys slow. Slower than my supercub.

 

[PerryB]

I don't see how VG's are going to make the power-on stall more abrupt. If anything I think it would be the opposite. I have very little time in a cub WITHOUT VG's but of the two I regularly fly ( I have Micro's, friend has BLR's ) any stall is a non-event.

 

[Bill Rusk]

PerryB - Part of the VG kit are VG's under the tail, ie on the bottom of the horizontal Stab. This allows the tail to go to a higher AOA producing more down force, which correspondingly drives the wing to a higher angle. "Power on" we have extra airflow over the tail and with tail VG's we are really pushing the tail to a higher AOA (down) and the wing to a higher AOA (up)! When this all lets go it is often accompanied by a more pronounced nose drop and perhaps a little wing drop as well. Because we have forced the wing to a higher AOA the airflow is only attached at the very leading edge of the wing and it takes a little longer to reattach.
It is really the same for all power on Vs power off stalls. By using the power (airflow) we make the tail more effective and thus drive the wing to a higher AOA before the stall.

Hope this helps a little

Bill

 

[txpacer]

The pictures I've seen of the Super Legend show a smaller than normal tail. It looks like a Pacer tail. Presumably it is to save weight. Their writeups talk about the tail stalling before the wing. Maybe that's why.

 

[fobjob]

My cub had the wing mounted at zero degrees angle of incidence when I bought it. (Not in the logs) This meant the trim was way forward and the elevator always down. Stalls were non-existant....it went into an instant spin with no warning. Adverse rudder not required. Seven turns spin recovery minimum. I put micro vg's on it, and it went to 1/3 turn spin recovery.