That’s the CubCrafters’ NXCub flying high and fast because it has the the lowest weight to horsepower ratio—10.7 pounds to 1—of any production two-place STOL backcountry airplane. Moreover, check out the tricycle landing gear. In a world where insurance companies are walking away from too many pilots who want to fly taildraggers in the backcountry, we think the NXCub solves the dilemma with ease.
Lined up on the runway threshold and holding the brakes, you slide the throttle way forward, over its long travel. The engine sound deepens into an all-encompassing roar as the nose hunkers down a few inches under max thrust. On releasing the brakes the acceleration is turbine-like and all you can think of is the two-word line shouted by the character D-Day in the classic movie “Animal House”: “Ramming speed!”