CubCrafters—the Cub company from Yakima—dropped in on us with a brand-new NX Cub a few weeks ago and asked us to drop them at the airline terminal, leaving the Cub on our ramp with the instructions to “have fun—fly it as much as you can!” This is the very first XCub built from a kit, so they felt we at KITPLANES were the appropriate folks to check it out.
Look for a full review in our July issue—but in the meantime, here are just a few things you can do with a Cub in western Nevada.
Alpine Airport—it’s hiding there in the meadow just about 20 miles south of Carson City, and it’s a great place to stop in for a picnic dinner. There’s rarely anybody there and no facilities at all—just a paved runway, empty ramp, and a place to primitive camp in the trees.This Cub is smiling because it has landed far from any building, fuel pump, or pilot’s lounge. This is what it was made for!No, these aren’t RV speeds, and we are “down among ‘em,” as they say—flying down the Owens Valley in eastern California. Cubs aren’t meant to fly fast—they’re meant to explore, and this is exploration country.One of my favorite landmarks—Mono Lake, just east of Yosemite, up in the high desert. Mono is a great landmark when watching the west coast of North America from space (or with cameras in space). It’s round with an island in the middle—a unique shape to pinpoint your position and get your bearings. And darn pretty from airplane altitudes as well.This isn’t a road—it’s the sole remaining usable runway (for a Cub) at Rosaschi Air Park in western Nevada. The NX Cub ate it up—it’s an emergency-only strip for most airplanes.The Artesia Dry Lake bed in the north end of Smith Valley isn’t so dry right now—we rolled the mains, then circled back to look at the tracks. They were brown, indicating moisture just below the surface. Not good enough to risk a full-stop landing, so we waved and headed home!Cubs make smiles—that’s for sure! The flat fields of the Carson Valley contrast with the quickly climbing peaks of the Carson Range, which form the eastern edge of the Lake Tahoe basin—a great place for sightseeing.If you fly out into the deserts of Nevada through a narrow VFR corridor carved through the Fallon restricted areas, you’ll find an old Pony Express stop known as Middlegate—a family-run restaurant, bar, RV park, and hotel. They’ve got no runway, but the old highway right-of-way works just fine. Just park next to the old vehicle and head inside for one of the best burgers around!
When conducting aerodynamic testing related to airflow over an object, how do you ensure that you've matched the conditions from one test to another, and why does it matter?
Did not know that you could land at Middlegate! Think an RV-7 could squeeze in there?