CubCrafters Authorized Training Center "Pirep": Tac Aero, Hood River, OR

[Rick Bosshardt]

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the full week Carbon Cub transition course at our newly authorized training center, Tac Aero.
I was joined by two other pilots:
One is a new FX owner who had the 40 hour flyoff done by CubCrafters, and picked up his plane right at Yakima with the Tac Aero instructor and flew it down to Hood River for the school. He is a several thousand hour pilot who most recently owned a Citation CJ4 and now a Phenom 300 which he flies single pilot, but only had about 10 hours of tailwheel time... enough to get his endorsement.
The other pilot is a 27,000 hour 30+ year 777 Captain at American, who had about 100 tailwheel hours about 10 years ago. He is considering buying an FX.
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I joined these two pilots for the training, as I wanted to see how the whole program was set up. Tac Aero has applied for Part 141 status and are teaching to that level, and have received a LODA from the FAA to allow them to teach in a Carbon Cub (EAB) FX. They can not instruct in a customer's SS, because of the weight limitation. Tac Aero owns an FX, and has another one on order, as well as a brand new XCub and quite a few Top Cubs. They have been around for several years already, and have been involved in training Govt. entities like the Dept. of Agriculture, and do quite a bit of agriculture surveillance flights with equipment that they have designed.

The five day Carbon Cub transition course consists of approx. 18 hours of ground school, and 17 hours of flight instruction at their local grass strip (as nice as a fairway!) and off site backcountry dirt strips, as well as an occasional paved landing or two.

The week was planned down to a "T", and they had clearly put many hours into planning the course, the curriculum, the hand out materials and the flying lessons, and it showed.

All of the staff were extremely polite, friendly, professional, and experienced with back country flying. The Chief Instructor Wes had spent many years in Alaska flying in the bush as well as for Horizon, and he was extremely competent, calm, encouraging and a great instructor. Scott, the assistant chief instructor, has decades of experience flying taildraggers, and has his own Super Cub and Bonanza. Both of the instructors were patient, willing to answer and explain anything and everything, and guided the two students through the week in a very purposeful way.

The facilities were great; the class room was part of the WAAAM Air museum on field. We also got private tours of the fantastic collection of 125+ vintage flying panes during break and after hours!
They also have their Service Center right there where they take care of their own CubCrafters fleet, which would be handy if any squawks came up with the new planes.

Accommodations, a courtesy car, and all flying fuel were included in the course fee, which made it nice to not have to worry about anything other than meals. A participant can bring his/her own Carbon Cub FX or EX (both need to be set at 1865 lbs), XCub or Top Cub, or rent one of Tac Aero's planes.

The final two days started focusing on backcountry flying, and the final day included hitting three different strips off the Columbia River Gorge that ranged from easy to moderately difficult.
Certainly for these two guys, they were BLOWN away by the experience, and if the Carbon Cub performance didn't convince the AA Captain to buy an FX, the backcountry experience put him over the edge! I was able to tag along behind them and we had a nice picnic lunch at Chukar Flats, hit Bull Run out in the Deschuttes Canyon, and a third strip they called the Farm. They have half a dozen strips at their disposal for the school, and it definitely MADE the whole week for the students, to be able to experience that kind of flying. Thats what the Carbon Cub is made for, and they got a full dose of it.

The feedback from the two guys was unanimous: The week long program FAR exceeded their expectations! They said over and over to me and to the Tac Aero guys that they felt the class was very good value for the money, that they would recommend any low time Carbon Cub pilot to take it (to the point that it should be MANDATORY training for such a pilot), and they heartily agreed to come back for any follow on courses that Tac Aero might offer: Refresher/Advanced course, Mountain Flying Course, and possibly even the Survival Course.

I would HEARTILY recommend this course to anyone who wants to advance their tailwheel skills, and specifically to learn more about any of the CubCrafters airplanes! I have quite a bit more Carbon Cub time then the other two participants, but I still got allot out of being there and participating in the course.

If anyone wants to hear more in detail, please give me a call and Id be happy to answer any questions you may have. Im sure the two participants with me would be happy to talk to anyone about the course as well.... just let me know.

Rick