CubCrafters, a leading designer and manufacturer of Light-Sport and Part 23 Certified aircraft, is testing a new backcountry landing gear configuration that the company conceived to dramatically reduce the potential for ground loops in backcountry flying.
Recognizing recent industrywide calls from regulators, insurance companies, and many in the pilot community to continue with safety innovation in the backcountry, the company sees broad applications for this new technology with flight training companies, various Government customers, and private aviators that just want a safer way to experience flying in remote areas.
Patrick Horgan, CEO of CubCrafters explains, “Here at CubCrafters we are always thinking about safety, and this is the most robust landing gear configuration ever put on a Cub type aircraft. It is 4X as strong and has 4X the braking power of either conventional or tricycle landing gear. It tracks straight as an arrow; we really feel this is the one and only ground loop proof Cub for the ultimate in short landings.”
When asked about certification he goes on, “The XCub is already Part 23 Certified in multiple different landing gear configurations including tailwheel, nosewheel, and as a floatplane. All we’re really doing here is melding our certified nosewheel and tailwheel landing gear into one configuration. With the FAA’s recent focus on a performance-based safety continuum doctrine, we believe they will see the simple brilliance in what we are doing, and it should be a quick and easy certification process, maybe even completed by Oshkosh.”
The Company says that the new landing gear technology can be retrofit to all existing X and NX Cubs. Insurance company officials and underwriters that the company spoke to anticipate that those CubCrafters customers that choose to retrofit their existing aircraft will likely experience drastically reduced insurance premiums, which is great news for the entire aviation community!
“Some said that the original tricycle gear version of the XCub was so ugly it could never achieve commercial success,” stated Brad Damm, the company’s Vice President, “but the NX cub has a fantastic sales record, so we’ve proven those naysayers wrong. Our feeling is that if tricycle gear was good, we think consumers will like this new quincycle landing gear even that much better.”
“Big tundra tires are good off airport, but smaller traditional tires are better on pavement, this aircraft has the best of both worlds.” He went on to say. “If three tires are good, five has to be better. Yes, it can be a little hard to turn when ground taxiing the aircraft, but we don’t see that as a problem because it can be easily overcome by large applications of power and brake.”
A short video of recent quincycle landing gear ground taxi testing was released by the company can be seen on YouTube at this link: https://youtu.be/hFHPdhCmQGo
CubCrafters builds best-of-class Backcountry aircraft in Yakima, Washington. To learn more, please visit us at Sun n’ Fun (booth N92-93/N102-103), Aero Friedrichshafen (hall A5/#229), or on our website at: https://cubcrafters.com/
