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Thread: FX-3 November National Tour

  1. #21
    Senior Member kiwibob's Avatar
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    Smile Re: FX-3 November National Tour

    Quote Originally Posted by Springloaded View Post
    Brad left the keys in the FX3 so I went out for a couple hours to shake it down. I had take offs down to 100' by the time I got done. Landings got down to less then 150' but with small brakes and 29s there virtually no braking. Plane had about 25-30 gals on board little more then I would normally go out and play with. I put it in a 300' RC field with plenty of margin. CubCrafters really did it with this one.
    Someone has to show me how to do the tail up turns! I'm impressed
    Bob Gray, FX-3 #38, ZK-FXC

  2. #22
    Senior Member Mark Keneston's Avatar
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    Default Re: FX-3 November National Tour

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan L View Post
    How does an interested party get on the list to see the newest version? When the FX2 was introduced I flew to Yakima to test fly it. But if the 3 is returning to Yakima at some point from the east maybe Brad would stop by here?
    Hotter than a pistol Dan. FX3 has met with great fan fair around the country. Brad arrived here in Saratoga, NY at 2 pm yesterday and will head to St Louis Sunday am sometime. I spend 3 hrs in 363EX yesterday and even showed it to a few local folks. All are impressed. One 300 hour Husky owner said it is time for a change. We will hope to see you again.
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  3. #23
    Senior Member Springloaded's Avatar
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    Default Re: FX-3 November National Tour

    Quote Originally Posted by kiwibob View Post
    Someone has to show me how to do the tail up turns! I'm impressed
    Always wanted to go on a red stag hunt. (hint)
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    Chuck Kinberger
    Southern Cubs
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    You can sit at home & hear the News or get out there & be the News

  4. #24
    Senior Member Mark Keneston's Avatar
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    Default Re: FX-3 November National Tour

    Quote Originally Posted by davidmorris View Post
    After looking at the preliminary comments about the FX-3 I wonder how many people would qualify for the Cub Crafters X 3 Club? That is people who have purchased 3 Carbon Cubs. I'm one check away from qualifying.

    David Morris
    Carbon Cub Owner X 2


    Mark's FX3 PIREP

    Last April I visited the factory (have been there 2 timessince) and many things had been in development and since I am not there much, that made it important that I visit for a little bit. We also had a show coming up down in New York City to attend with the XCub so a big part of that visit was to fly N500XC back to NY and get it to the show. But there are always other fun things to do there also. Anybody who has never visited our factory really should

    While I was there I had the opportunity to fly the new proof of concept airplane the FX3. A secret back then, I know I am safe to share now. The next generation of the Carbon CubFX/EX known as our builders assist/kit program airplane. Although not officially announced then, the FX3 was pretty well known by most of our customers and in fact we had several of this FX3 already on order and no one had seen it or flown it yet. No customers anyway. You might be asking yourself how can so many of a new product be on order already and nobody had seen it or flown it? The answer I would say is that it is the legacy or maybe better put the heritage and/or history of CubCrafters that advances such action. CubCrafters has a deep history in all things cubs but also in product development, engineering design, manufacturing and production such that people know what to expect. Those that know what to expect then tell others about their experience and the cycle continues.

    This next generation of the Carbon Cub FX, is bigger, stronger and faster. It can carry more, go further and provide extra comfort too. With the new 189hp ( I think it is more ) CC363i fuel injected engine swinging the Hartzell trailblazer constant speed prop, this will be the most powerful airplane CubCrafters has built to date for production. The FX3 will cruise close to 130 mph and have a 2000# gross weight. These are things that many of our customers have asked for and we are happy to now be delivering. The staggering part is it will still perform just like the light sport carbon cub ss when it comes to STOL. In fact I can also add here that having flown the proof of concept airplane back in April of 17’, I was amazed by the torque the engine had. I advanced the throttle and was set firmly against the backrest of the seat and off the ground quick. That gets your attention. It is a hit in all areas already, just wait till they fly it.

    Fast forward to last Friday December 1st. Brad was scheduled to arrive by 2pm after avisit with a customer in Maryland who has a FX3 currently on order. He arrived early. Speed is an all out advantage of FX3 over every airplane in the class. He grabbed his gear and tossed me the keys and he headed for the hotel. I was eager to go and did just that. Hot starts I will tell you are a piece ofcake. I left the mixture out, hit the boost pump and as it fired I fed the mixture. Easy peasy! I base in Saratoga,NY (5B2) and have a friend (Mark Murphy) just West 15 miles with a grass strip. He was in the middle of a TW endorsement for one of our customers who just purchased a Carbon Cub SS from us. Timing is everything. Mark has been flying a long time. Notably he is a p51 owner, demo pilot, P51 instructor pilot, airshow pilot and Reno Racer. He manages and flys a Corsair, MK1 Spitfire and a newly acquired Mits Zero also. They have 19 aircraft there. That is the short list but he is also a Husky owner for 300+ hours. He loves that or rather likes it now that he has had both time in a Carbon Cub SS and now theFX3.

    I consider myself a low time pilot when compared to Mark and others. He knew I was coming and we had a chance to get some air to air pics before we landed and got him in the FX3. This was a fantastic opportunity to let a Husky guy critique. The airplaneis a little bit heavier than our SS but not a ton, if it takes off longer than a Carbon Cub SS, it is not but by a fraction either. The first thing that jumps is the paint. Orange! And a lot of it and guess what, people love it. We showed it to alot of people and my first question was “what do you think of the orange?”ANSWER:unanimously was “I Love it.” The next item people notice mostly from inside is the size of the prop. It’s a HULK! This is where the huge match up of the 363i and the prop converge into huge thrust. As I mentioned, you are stuffed back in the seat on the throttle advance. So Mark climbed aboard and really took to the panel, the seat was more comfortable and he really loved the stick. He is a warbird guy after all. We used the same hot start procedure and we were off. He was amazed with the power, thrust, torque and climb. Having flown so many airplanes and the Husky too, he can appreciate just how good FX3 is. I shared the particulars but really just wanted his opinion on flying it. We did some fun maneuvers and then landed. Total was maybe 30 minutes in flight. As we are landing he said “I like the Husky but this FX3 is incredible, after 300 hrs it may be time to upgrade finally.” I respect his opinion more than most because of all the planes he has flown. He can be objective and see and appreciate things others may not. So I left and he and his new CC SS student went back to work. I went back to Saratoga and grabbed our FBO owner/manager Jon and took him for a ride.

    He and others that eventually followed him over the 3 days all agree that the power is awesome. You hear it too when the airplane takes off. It roars and that is a good thing. The exhaust on these planes is definitely distinguishable from everything else. Jon and I just took a hot lap 10 miles East to another grass field along the Hudson River. Jon has flown the Carbon Cub with me and his second impression after the thrust was how light the controls were. We hear this a lot. The G-Series slotted flaps and ailerons are a marvel. Light, quick, responsive and better. He also enjoyed the heat, infact we had to lower it. This new plane has incredible heat and wind screen defrost. You in the far North will love it and even the back seater has plenty of heat with two dial controlled ducts on the port side panel. The cool thing I noted about this is while those ducts control that heat to the back, there is plenty of residual heat that comes from the chamber or side panel itself. It is a carbon fiber side wall panel that carries the heat front to back. That whole panel gets really warm also so this adds to cabin heat overall and not just from the ducts. Jon and I headed back to Saratoga after an hour or so and it was about dark anyway. He was quite impressed and I do foresee a Carbon Cub in his future also.


    Saturday we had some of our local TW guys come in to get a peek as well as fly 363EX. I value these guys and their perspective.They have been flying cubs for years and they are always making mods, upgrades and changes to suit what they want and need. They are all in the experimental class too. Peter is in the marine business and is very technical and always able to fabricate something to his needs. Many times he could buy what he wanted but he would rather make it himself and have a challenge to make it better. He had many questions but ultimately he wanted to fly it. He came back grinning ear to ear and confessed “Boys it is not hype”. Another comment was he will drink the Kool Aid. “It is that good”. We also had a C170 owner and a J3/Pacer/Stinson owner both of whom are C130 pilots for the USAF here at our local base Stratton ANG. These guys do the missions to Iceland, Greenland and Antartica that you have seen on Discovery Channel. They have stories boy! Both had drill this weekend but grabbed an hour for lunch (Professional Development) Cliff said and came to fly the FX. Both guys loved the performance in climb and cruise. At one point we were 2450 squared and at 133mph TAS. Its just ridiculous! I guess we gave 3-4 demo rides Saturday morning before we saddled 7 up and headed to Symon field just East of Ticonderoga, NY and East of Lake Champlain. Glenn has maybe 1000’ grass on a little hill across from his house there. Glenn has a Sport Cub and Jim had a Sport Cub and just sold it in favor of a Carbon Cub SS. These guys love cubs and they love this kind of flying. Kevin, the guy that was training with Mark, he joined us also and made a beautiful landing with his TW endorsement and new Carbon Cub. We just wanted to get out and visit them as they are loyal CC owners and deserve a look at our new airplane with it so close during its national tour. Once again they all loved the paint We all do. We shared for a while and Brad had a chance to meet some of our local customers here. Kevin had to get back to Bangor,ME so he left us alittle early and had a nice and safe flight home. We loaded up shortly after and also headed back south for the day. I will say, it was a cool air to air photo of 4 Carbon Cubs in flight staggered orange, red, white and blue. We flew back down Champlain to Lake George and back to Saratoga. A full day of flying fun was had by all.

    Sunday am would come quickly and Brad needed to get on the road early and on to St. Louis but had a small detour to make in SW Michigan with 5 Husky drivers. I would call it the Wolf Pack or the Iditarod, there impressions should arrive on the forum soon. Glad that visit worked out. But we were not done in Saratoga. We had 4 fellas arrive from North Michigan by Bonanza at 8:30am Sunday for their peek at FX3. Gordon is currently an EX2 kit builder and likely will fly it for the first time in a week or two he says. We took Gordon and his close friend and high time J3 guy Larry for a ride in the FX3. Gordon immediately noticed on startup that the airframe did not shake when the engine fired. Huh, he is right. It is smoother all the way around. The same comments are now a constant. I love the orange, wow that prop is huge. Or the power is incredible. Man how this climbs. Etc. etc. They are all right. The airplane is a blast to fly. It fills a niche. It has the GW capability, it can land and take off short and the features are nice. You will see that Cub Crafters listens to the market. Advances in technology and materials as well as a better way of thinking about changes have been engineered and implemented. The results are better than expected. This could be the last airplane a person could ever need because it does it all.

    Mark
    Last edited by Mark Keneston; 12-04-2017 at 08:11 AM.
    Cub Crafters
    Factory Direct New & Used Aircraft Sales
    NorthEast & Great Lakes Region
    518.410.9404

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