Wed, Apr 01, 2015
CubCrafters New Super-Duper Cub Provides Room For More Passengers, Unique Twin-Engine In The Works
ANN's April 1 "April Fool" Special Edition
CubCrafters' Jim Richmond wanted to produce an airplane that could carry more passengers and have unique performance capabilities while still maintaining the basic profile of his dreams; the Piper Cub. Through unique engineering concepts, he has found a way to do this.
To acquire more than double the passenger capacity and still remain with the cub profile, Richmond looked to office-building architects and Airbus for the answer. The basic philosophy of office-building design is that it’s more efficient to build up rather than out. Airbus used this concept in their A380 double-decker airliner and CubCrafters has adopted the same concept for its Super-Duper Cub.
The 2-decker version of the Cub allows for a pilot above and below, or a single pilot position on the lower portion with the upper portion dedicated for passengers. This upper portion concept has been validated as successful on the British double-decker buses because it places the passengers at a higher level for a better view.
By making the fuselage taller and staying in proportion with the fuselage length and wing span, the overall appearance is a profile quite similar to the basic Cub.
In the 'Cub Skunkworks" is a twin-engine variant of the Super-Duper Cub. The taller fuselage also added the capabilities to install a unique twin-engine design.
Two TITAN 340CC Engines, each delivering 180 horsepower, would be stacked one on top of the other to drive a coaxial driveshaft through a connected transmission that provides thrust to the counter rotating propellers. Each propeller is driven by an independent engine providing multiengine safety without concerns for asymmetric thrust.
This unique engine system offers numerous advantages other than the obvious advantage of increased safety. The transmission allows two eight-foot propellers to be driven independently at a reduced RPM. This configuration provides maximum thrust with no turning effect caused by torque or P-factor, allowing the aircraft to perform near hovering flight. Combining this engine and prop configuration with light weight and huge helium-filled tundra tires, the Super-Duper Cub will have extraordinary STOL capabilities.
Richmond said, “We will own the Valdez competition.”
Prices and delivery dates for the Super-Duper Cub have not been released.
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