Rotax and CubCrafters: Let’s Hear It For Putting Light Back Into Light Aircraft

When I was but a tender student pilot, my instructor put three of us in a brand-new airplane to fly around North Carolina to complete our cross-country work. The airplane was sleek, sexy and had eyeball vents, just like an airliner. It was a 1969 Cardinal and we knew it would replace the doddering 1967 Skyhawks in the club fleet. (Inside joke: this was the golden age of leasebacks. A two-year-old airplane was all but tapped out.)

And yet, 54 years later, Cessna is still cranking out essentially the same Skyhawks while legions of loyal owners maintain doddering Cardinals which, to this day, still look sleek and sexy. My point in resurrecting this ancient history is that in a fever dream moment, it’s possible to imagine the 160-HP 916 iS Rotax introduced at Sun ‘n Fun this week displacing the venerable Lycoming IO-360 in, say, the Skyhawk. The opposite end of the fever, and Rotax’s likely reasoning, is that the 916 iS’s market entry will ignite a new class of small aircraft under the FAA’s emerging MOSAIC rule, plus a credible experimental market.

That’s closer to reality because those airplanes are already in development and the 916’s launch customer is CubCrafters, with a new, slimmed down Carbon Cub variant.

The 916 iS is a fully formed Part 33 engine with a 2000-hour TBO out of the box. If MOSAIC potentiates, we would have the option of higher performing, heavier airplanes than current LSAs are, but with a less onerous certification load to keep the prices from ballooning toward the half-million mark.

I’m giggling that I actually wrote that sentence because of course prices will balloon. They always do because customers don’t buy down option airplanes, but models loaded with everything they can lard on to the invoice. It’s not airplane buyers who complain about high prices, but those unwilling to devote significant wealth to owning an airplane. I know the feeling. For proof of that, just look at LSA prices, which average in the $160,000 range and north. Some are well over $200,000.

The way I imagine it will go is that if MOSAIC has an impact, the airplanes will be more expensive than current LSAs, but more capable, too, so it’s possible they’ll read as a better value. Don’t forget, by traditional standards, LSA development is unfettered by high certification costs. MOSAIC airplanes may or may not be. But we’re not gonna darken the skies with such things because while there are many thousands of people who can write a check for such toys, there are many fewer who will. After all, Millennials have sworn off cars and motorcycles, not to mention breakfast cereal and bath salts. Whatever, Rotax is positioned to provide engines. Lycoming, too, but a little draggy on the tech curve. Continental has nothing at all.

The 916 iS gives CubCrafters an uncharacteristic opportunity to shear away from driving increased performance with power loading to driving it with structural efficiency, as explained in this show video we shot. CubCrafters caught a little grief when, in 2009, it introduced its own ASTM engine, the 180-HP CC340 developed in conjunction with ECI. “Cheating,” said its competitors. LSAs aren’t supposed to have that much power. It goes counter to the spirit of light sport, whatever that is or was. (Harley riders sometimes say the same thing when passed by adventure bikes, which are just dirt bikes with too much power.)

The 916 iS has 26 fewer horsepower than the CC363i CubCrafters introduced in 2017, but the total installation may be 50 to 70 pounds lighter. CubCrafters’ Brad Damm said the airframe weight will be nibbled down with lighter fabric, smaller avionics and titanium airframe parts. I wonder if the wise owner who will never see a sandbar at risk of death might forgo the 31-inch tundra tires to save a few pounds. Nah, forget I mentioned it.  

If airframers do start to incorporate more technological solutions to save weight, that would be a welcome trend. At least Rotax has an engine to encourage it.

Sun 'n Fun Show Notes

When I left Sun ‘n Fun last year, I promised myself I wouldn’t be coming back. It felt stale to me, disinterested in any change and from a press point of view, they made it difficult by having a minimal press center in the remote Tom Davis building.

Kudos to improvement this year. The press center, albeit small, was situated just off the food court area near the vendor hangars. There were just enough chairs to make it work and although I wish I could say the Wi-Fi worked, too—it didn’t—it still made our lives easier. Also, big props to the volunteers who ran the golf cart taxi service. They were prompt, efficient and saved a ton of fatiguing shoe leather.

From the Just Like the Paris Airshow file comes the attack of the chalets. These are famous in Paris for being toney, temporary offices where the likes of Airbus, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman and so on do business and schmooze customers and where Boeing will triple its wine budget to try to recover its self-tarred reputation.

I think this is the first I’ve seen chalets at Lakeland and what they lacked in Parisian luxury, they made up for in size. The tent musta been 100 yards long, with numerous companies. Here, if suitably anointed, you can escape the freckle-necked masses, have a beer and watch the airshow, secure in the satisfaction that all the vendors behind you are cursing you for blocking their view. Heavy is the head that wears the VIP name tag.

One new company had a chalet. It’s called E3 Aviation Association and it’s, well, I’m not sure how to describe it. I guess it’s a content and services aggregator. For prices between $14.95 and $49.95 a month, you get a digital magazine, product discounts, interviews, advance notice of fly-ins and so on. And a seat in the chalet, of course. Find them here.

This year, Sun ‘n Fun organizers offered a centrally located vendor area called The Island for campers. Seemed like a good idea, but I didn’t get over there to use it. If you did, leave a comment below. One vendor told me apart from the traffic, his dealings with Sun ‘n Fun were more cordial and professional. I think they’re making an effort here.

But the traffic. No point in sugar coating it. For me, on the first day, it was the worst ever. The traffic inflowing from Medulla Road to the vendor/media lot was backed up so far that it took nearly an hour to get from Medulla into the lot. This smoothed out on the second day, so I figure it had to do with parking passes not sorted. A volunteer was stopping and chatting up every single car. I know how I’d fix this. Send out the passes and wristbands in the mail ahead of the show. Have the waiver signable online. Easy for me to say because I don’t know if they have the budget and staff to do this. But find the resources and the problem goes away.

Oh, and yes, I shaved my mustache. And no, I don’t know why, other than scissors and razor were handy.