Cub Crafter X Cub – A Closer Look at Cub Crafters’ Light Aircraft:

The CubCrafters CC19-180 XCub is a light aircraft designed and manufactured by Cub Crafters of Yakima, Washington. It was first flown in June 2016. The plane is sent fully assembled and ready to fly.

The XCub is an improved version of the CubCrafters Carbon Cub EX, including increased performance and more carbon fibre in the frame. Its genealogy may be traced back to the 1949 Piper PA-18 Super Cub design.

The XCub was created in secret during a six-year period, from 2010 to 2016, and was not publicly publicized until FAR 23 type certification was accomplished by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The accreditation procedure was completed entirely with corporate resources, with no venture funding, loans, or client deposits involved.

The FAA granted type certification for day and night visual flying regulations on June 2, 2016. The European Aviation Safety Agency Type Certified the CC19-180 on December 17, 2017, and Canada and Japan in August 2018.

For reasons that the firm has not disclosed, the aircraft was also approved by the FAA in the principal aircraft category on March 26, 2019.

Design:

The plane had a V-strut-braced high-wing, a door-accessible enclosed cockpit with two seats in tandem, fixed aluminium sprung conventional landing gear and a single tractor engine.

The airplane is built of welded CNC-milled 4130 steel tubing with doped aircraft fabric on the flying surfaces. It had a 34.3-foot (10.5-meter) span wing with a 174.8-square-foot (16.24-square-meter) area with flaps. Torque tubes, rather than cables, drive the controls, with the aileron tubes running inside the V-struts. The standard engine is a Lycoming O-360-C1 (CC363i) four-stroke engine with 180 horsepower (134 kW) and a Hartzell Trailblazer composite constant-speed propeller. A 215 horsepower (160 kW) version with a Lycoming IO-390 (CC393i) engine and a Hartzell Pathfinder three-bladed propeller was released in July 2019. A new cowling and baffles are required for the new powerplant.

Operational History:

AOPA reviewer Dave Hirschman concluded in his review of the aircraft in June 2016 after an evaluation flight, “The 153 mph true airspeed top speed in level flight is impressive, but for backcountry pilots, the enormous range and operational flexibility they’ll have at lower cruise speeds is far more important. At 120 mph real airspeed, an XCub pilot can reduce fuel use to 6 gph or less and get around eight hours of flight time from a full tank (50 gallons) of avgas.

The XCub can cover 1,000 statute miles at a standard Super Cub cruise speed of 100 mph… Flying the XCub is thrilling, and the plane is attractive both inside and out. It was built by professionals who know their clients and the characteristics they appreciate, as evidenced by the creative layout of the panel, passenger seating, and storage compartments.

In a July 2016 review, Pia Bergqvist of Flying magazine commended the plane overall but criticized the flap system and the ensuing pitch variations when the flaps were deployed. “One thing that takes a little getting accustomed to is the flap mechanism,” she noted. A big handle in the upper left corner of the cockpit is used to adjust the flaps. The handle is in a convenient location, and each flap setting is in a notch to prevent slipping. Push slightly forward before gripping the trigger to release the clasp to get the initial flap in place. However, you must pull back on the handle to release the second and third notches. It took a few attempts to become accustomed to the opposing action. The innovative slotted flap design allows air to flow over the flap surface from the underside of the wing.

“Truth is, for many pilots who grew up after’real’ Cubs made tail draggers the everyday airplane, the presence of a nose wheel on an airplane as capable of off-pavement work as the NXCub will make the whole hard to resist,” KitPlanes magazine editor Marc Cook wrote in a 2020 flight review of the tricycle landing gear-equipped NXCub model. Indeed, for many, this is most likely the backwoods plane they’ve been waiting for.

Specifications (XCub):

General characteristics

Crew: one

Capacity: one passenger

Length: 23 ft 10 in (7.26 m)

Wingspan: 34 ft 4 in (10.46 m)

Height: 8 ft 4 in (2.54 m)

Wing area: 174.8 sq ft (16.24 m2)

Empty weight: 1,216 lb (552 kg)

Gross weight: 2,300 lb (1,043 kg)

Fuel capacity: 49 U.S. gallons (190 L; 41 imp gal)

Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-360-C1 four cylinder, air-cooled, four stroke aircraft engine, 180 hp (130 kW)

Propellers: 2-bladed Hartzell Propeller Trailblazer composite, constant speed propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 153 mph (246 km/h, 133 kn)

Cruise speed: 145 mph (233 km/h, 126 kn)

Stall speed: 39 mph (63 km/h, 34 kn)

Never exceed speed: 167 mph (269 km/h, 145 kn)

Range: 800 mi (1,300 km, 700 nmi)

Endurance: 6 hours

Service ceiling: 14,000 ft (4,300 m)

Rate of climb: 1,500 ft/min (7.6 m/s)

XCub in Flight Simulator:

The XCub was ultimately released by Washington-based CubCrafters in 2016 as a full-production offspring of their successful experimental kit plane, the Carbon Cub EX, following six years of secret development. While the XCub looks a lot like the Carbon Cub EX, and both planes are based on the 1949 Piper PA-18 Super Cub, the XCub was completely redesigned from the spinner to the tail with one goal in mind: excitement!

Package Listing:

The products listed below are either included in the basic sim or can be purchased/downloaded separately. The inclusion of packages below does not imply that they are of high quality or appropriate for use. Before purchasing, potential customers should thoroughly investigate payware products through reviews, videos, and other means.

Conclusion:

To summarize, the XCub is a fantastic aircraft to fly; it’s incredibly aerodynamic, and it’s a lot of fun, exciting, unpredictable, and interesting to fly for hours on end, assuming you have enough fuel. If you’re having trouble flying the XCub, I recommend going through all of the guides I’ve included above.

Thank you for reading my review of the Cub Crafters X Cub; I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to share your thoughts about it in comments below.