Acquiring a Cubcrafter?

[Barnside]

Hi All,

I'm a 65 year-old Brit living with my beautiful partner, ex Brit - now a naturalised American, down here in San Carlos, Mexico. Today we closed on the sale of our home and within a week will have closed and moved in to a lovely home up at 5,000 ft in Payson, Az.

Putting to one side the question of me getting permission to enter and live in the US under the fiancée visa scheme, coming to live in Payson means that at last I can get back into flying.

Last flew just a year ago down in Nogales but not seriously since I left the UK in 2008. I have about 1,300 hours with about 500 hours on a Piper Super Cub - the military variant L21B. Absolutely adored that aircraft. Will be joining Payson Aviation as soon as I can to start the process of getting my US licence.

So there's the background.

As we all know an aircraft is always a compromise but I think being based in Payson means that the sort of flying that will thrill me is Piper Cub venturing.

Have been very impressed with the Cubcrafter line and am warming to the idea of owning one, or more likely, setting up a group ownership of one.

So I would be very interested to get a better idea of what owners regard as the pros and cons of each of the models and whether there is a model that offers a much better ownership package.

Regards to all,

Paul H

[Barnside]

Replying to my own thread!

Hopefully my query was clear but was interested in the comments on this thread that strongly recommended the Sports Cub.

But how do owners rate the Sports Cub vs the Top Cub (over and beyond the differences in specifications)?

Regards to all,

Paul H

[Pilawt]

Being in the Light Sport category, a Sport Cub is limited to 1,320 lb maximum gross weight, so it has a useful load of about 450 pounds or so. Also, its fuel capacity is limited to 24 gallons, and it is not certified for night or IFR flight. If your mission requirement fits within those parameters, a Sport Cub is an excellent choice. It will go just about anywhere that a Top Cub could go, and will do so more economically, and with the additional benefits of the Light Sport and Sport Pilot rules.

[Barnside]

Thanks Jeff,

While my background in the UK was plenty of IFR stuff (well it was England) my Cub was used solely day VFR and I would suspect that 90% of my missions in the SW USA would be the same.

So your comments are useful. How, in practice, do you and others find the useful payload/range working out?

Need to become more familiar with the Light Sport and Sport Pilot rules as well.

Paul

[Becky Teerink]

Thanks Jeff,

While my background in the UK was plenty of IFR stuff (well it was England) my Cub was used solely day VFR and I would suspect that 90% of my missions in the SW USA would be the same.

So your comments are useful. How, in practice, do you and others find the useful payload/range working out?

Need to become more familiar with the Light Sport and Sport Pilot rules as well.

Paul

Hi Paul,
This website has a lot of introductory info on light sport!http://www.sportflyingguide.com/inde...lot-groups/eaa

[Barnside]

Thanks Becky,

Useful link!

Paul

[Pilawt]

How, in practice, do you and others find the useful payload/range working out?

My Sport Cub S2 has an empty weight of 871 lb, for a useful load of 449. Full fuel payload is 305 lb. I'm a shade under 200 lb, so that's over 100 lb of camping gear and cargo if I'm solo. Full fuel is about three hours with one-hour reserve even at high power setting with an O-200-A, and I'm plenty ready to land before then anyway. TAS seems to work out close to 100 mph (S2 with wood prop) no matter what I do.

I've had it up to 11,500' in the backcountry of Idaho, and it acted like it wanted to keep going higher. I traveled to Idaho with a group of other airplanes, and the Sport Cub kept right up with the Husky and 160-hp PA-12 in our group (though, of course, they were carrying more load).

Photos here: http://pilawt.com/idaho.html
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vAXO7gSE5Q

If a passenger comes along, I just have to plan for a lighter fuel load.

In over two years of ownership this has worked out fine for me, and I've never wished for "more" Cub (though I'd be lying if I said I didn't salivate over the new Carbon Cub!). Others might need to carry more load, and that's where the Top Cub comes in.

[Barnside]

Jeff,

Again very helpful and within just a few posts it's becoming very much clearer where my ambitions are. We will be moved in to Payson next week and a very early call will be to Payson Aviation to see what's the quickest route from my British licence to a US one - and the Sport Pilot licence seems a very sensible option.

My plan/dream is starting to look like finding another 2 or 3 like-minded pilots and put the funds together for a Carbon Cub.

Here's a pic of my 'old' life - the German Shepherd is still with me!

Pharaoh in Cub.JPG

Regards to all,

Paul (and Pharaoh!)

[Pilawt]

Payson, eh? Perhaps we can meet up one of these days. We have a vacation home near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (KIWA). When we make the trip it's usually via airline or our Cessna 172. We haven't tried the 1130-mile trip in the Sport Cub yet, though I'd like to do it sometime this spring if I get a few days off.

[Barnside]

Jeff, would be a pleasure to meet up.

I'll keep the Forum posted on how things develop.

Regards to all,

Paul