CopyCubs Proliferate

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While the Sport Pilot rule was originally aimed at inspiring new aircraft designs and manufacturing, it’s also spawned a renaissance of popular old designs that meet the weight and performance limitations. And it seems like the design many credit with starting the modern GA movement, the Piper J-3 Cub, is leading the LSA charge. There’s fierce competition between Cubcrafters, of Yakima, Wash., and American Legend, of Sulphur Springs, Texas, for the CopyCub market. American Legend is holding a homecoming for about 100 Legend Cub owners and pilots Oct. 20-21. It’s been building them for 15 months. Cubcrafters is celebrating its first two Sport Cub customer deliveries after three years of development efforts. And in Alaska, a company is reviving one of the most popular bushplane designs. Airframes Inc. of Big Lake, Alaska, and Dakota Cub, of Brandon, S.D., have teamed to create the Super 18 Corp. to build modern versions of the PA-18 Super Cub. This is no LSA, though. With a 180-hp engine the Super 18 will carry 1,000 lbs for a MTOW of about 2,400 lbs. It’s a little wider than the original and it comes with the military version’s wing, which has a slotted leading edge that further improves the design’s legendary short-field and slow-speed performance. The company is aiming for FAA certification by the end of the year.

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