CubCrafters tells ANN that the first
flight of its newest airplane, SPORT CUB, has just taken place. All
first flight goals were achieved during a nearly one hour flight at
CubCrafters company headquarters and manufacturing facility at
Yakima Air Terminal/McAllister Field Airport (YKM). Nearly all of
CubCrafters 60 employees were on hand to witness the successful
first flight of SPORT CUB.
CubCrafters founder and CEO Jim Richmond, at the controls for
the initial flight, was enthusiastic in his praise for SPORT CUB
afterwards. “It flew just as we knew it would, which is to
say it flew like a Super Cub, except it’s lighter and in many
ways more responsive because of its lower empty weight.”
“In designing a completely new aircraft instead of a
simple reproduction, SPORT CUB retains all the positive flight
characteristics that previous ‘Cub’ aircraft have made
almost famous: gentle handling, wide CG range, remarkable short
field capabilities, large payload capacity, and so on. But in the
new airplane, we improved those things we always wished we could,
such as cockpit and cabin comfort, ease of entering and exiting the
airplane, modern avionics, and newly engineered airframe materials
and components, just to name just a few. With our first flight
today, we validated our SPORT CUB design goals.”
Standard SPORT CUB features include the largest door and cabin
in its class, full electrical system, lightweight starter, stow
away rear seat for an even larger cargo area, fuselage welded cargo
tie down points, adjustable pilot seat, aerodynamically balanced
rudder and elevator, optional flaps and an all-digital flat panel.
Powered by a 100hp Continental 0-200 engine, Vortex Generators and
toe brakes are also standard equipment. Additionally, safety,
structural, and airframe component improvements are designed into
an all new fuselage, cowling, tail, wing spars, struts and attach
fittings. Though the certification of the airplane is the ASTM
Designation F2245 as provided in the FAA Light Sport Aircraft rule,
SPORT CUB is not limited to use in the new category alone. Orders
are on hand for private pilots in Alaska and elsewhere who will use
SPORT CUB equipped with flaps and large tires as a utility
aircraft…the same aircraft that others might use purely for
sport and recreational purposes.
Detailing SPORT CUB manufacturing capabilities, Richmond
commented “We will build SPORT CUB on the same production
line that we currently build our FAR part 23, amendment 55
certified TOP CUB on. To date, we are the only company to
participate in the new category that produces aircraft to that
stringent standard.
With SPORT CUB, the same procedures will be used throughout: the
same engineers oversee design and production processes and the same
technicians will assemble the airplanes. Our facility is FAA
certified to build FAA/PMA approved parts. We utilize modern CNC
lathes, mills, routers, presses, and shears. We have heat treating
capabilities, hydro-forming abilities, and state of the art welding
and tube cutting capabilities. Our Quality Assurance department is
equipped with a co-ordinate measuring system that can check the
accuracy of a part to .0001”.
SPORT CUB makes it public debut at EAA AIRVENTURE on July 25th
at the CubCrafters display, sites 112 and 113. On Tuesday, July
26th, at 9:30 am, CubCrafters will hold a media event at the site
to discuss additional aircraft program details, including the
formalization of a training aircraft fleet order for SPORT CUB by a
new ‘Sport Pilot’ flight academy.
CubCrafters, founded in 1980 by current owner and CEO Jim
Richmond, is located at Yakima Air Terminal/McAllister Field
Airport (YKM) in Yakima, Washington. CubCrafters’ roots are
in the 50 year history of classic ‘taildragger’
aviation, but its products and services – new aircraft,
CAD-based design and engineering, CNC tooling and fabrication,
‘lean’ manufacturing, and award-winning tube and fabric
aircraft restoration – are leading edge. CubCrafters offers
two all new, FAA certified, ready to fly, aircraft: SPORT CUB, the
long awaited redesign of the classic airplane that inspired the
light sport category; and TOP CUB, the most capable two-place
personal and utility aircraft. CubCrafters is also a recognized
authority for re-building and modifying PA-18 Super Cubs and
similar aircraft, and it stocks a broad range of STCs, PMA’d
parts and modification kits for the existing fleet.