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Latest CubCrafters Design Looks Back and Ahead

Manufacturer melds traditional bushplane values with tomorrow's engine technology.

What the Carbon Cub UL shows is that innovation can keep an airplane style so rooted in our history that it might as well have been conceived by the Wright brothers. [Jon Bliss]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • CubCrafters introduced the Carbon Cub UL, a new bushplane powered by a 160 hp Rotax 916 iS engine, marking a significant departure from their traditional Lycoming/Titan powerplants.
  • The shift to the Rotax engine enables the UL to run on autogas and meet global ultralight (UL) category weight limits, specifically targeting international markets.
  • The Carbon Cub UL demonstrates exceptional short-field performance, powerful climb rates, and reliable bush-flying capabilities, despite being a prototype still undergoing cooling system refinements.
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CubCrafters vice president Brad Damm pointed vaguely to a sprawling ranch in the bare hills that surround Yakima, Washington. “We’re going over there,” he said, “and you can practice some takeoffs and landings.”

Although Damm gave me a heading, I still wasn’t seeing the airport. “Keep going. You see that house and workshop on the top of the hill?” Yes, I do. “OK, the dirt strip is just to the west of that, aligned roughly east-west.” I kept looking to where the elevation appeared to flatten slightly, trying my best to pick out anything that looked like an airport. No luck.

Marc Cook

Marc Cook is a veteran special-interest journalist who started as a staffer at AOPA Pilot in the late 1980s. Marc has built two airplanes, an Aero Designs Pulsar XP and a Glasair Aviation Sportsman, and now owns a 180-hp, recently modernized GlaStar based in western Oregon. Marc has 5000 hours spread over 200-plus types and four decades of flying.

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