FSX-MS I Don't 'Get' the A2A Piper Cub

[JimmiG 244]

Have a look at Realairs Scout package, three models for $16.

The Decathlon in particular is a favourite of mine, a  fully aerobatic tail dragger without flaps is just great fun. especially landing

 

 

I agree, excellent value for the money. The models hold up extremely well in spite of their age.

[kiki 89]

I was very happy customer when Cub was released. That love didn´t last, it so slow. Now Cub is collecting dust in my hangar. I never went to A2A after that, but obviously I should and will do that.

[Rimshot 1,133]

For me the attraction is that it is a historic plane. The Cub is an icon. I like the low and slow flying you can do with this little bird.

 

It's basically an ultralight with a little more speed.

 

What kind of ultralights do you mean? The WT9 Dynamic I fly is quite a lot faster than a Cub 

 

I don't like it - been hangered for years - too slow

That's nothing bad about A2A though - just the plane is boring

 

Have you ever flown one for real? I haven't, but I doubt I would find it boring. I find flying the simulated Cub very easeful! I have done a tour in the cub, following highway 5 from north to south. Plenty of time to enjoy the scenery 

 

But what attracts me to the Cub most is its developer. The flight model feels extremely good. As said, I've never flown a Cub for real, but looking at how A2A develop their planes I'd rather fly this slower Cub than any other faster equivalent of the Cub made by other developers. Currently I only fly A2A planes (awaiting the Realair Legacy and Duke for Prepar3D as well). 

[bbilly05 3]

Hi!

My interest in Idaho started when I was looking at You Tube videos of the BN-2 Islander and found this one, I think it is making a landing at Pistol Creek ranch. It is pretty incredible, skimming. Tree tops and the sides of cliffs, before plunging into the valley to follow the winding river between stands of forest, and then, around a bend is a gap in the trees, and the pilot puts the plane through the gap to land at the rough strip.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pt2qbUNo1ao

 

I bought CRM, but although Pistol Creek isnt on there, all the other strips are, and they are just as. Tough to approach, often needing a winding canyon approach. After that I looked on You Tube for anything marked 'Idaho bush flying' and was impressed by the incredibly flying, incredible airstrips and beautiful videos.

 

Of massive influence was a series of professional flight videos of stunning quality which break down bush flying into its constituent parts:

 

Backcountry Aviation: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CrPJac80W9Y

 

I've been wanting to tell someone about these videos for weeks!

Awesome video, thanks for bringing it to my attention. :-)

 

B.

[Griphos 138]

I'm in the U.S., so "ultralight" means FAR Part 103, which sets a max speed of 63 mph, so, yes, the Cub is a bit faster.

And you don't need the Super Cub to do that kind of bush flying and off airstrip landings. The A2A Cub excels at those. I've flown it for hundreds of landings on the wonderful little bush strips along the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho. I've flown the FR Super Cub as well, and it's no longer in my hangar. I like the Realair Scout, but it's no longer in my hangar either.

My Chief is a similar style of aircraft, and I suppose that flying it so much makes me a bit picky about what simulated aircraft I fly. It might be different for sim pilots without any RL experience in similar aircraft, but I have no interest in sim planes that aren't very realistic, and there really isn't any low and slow, bush, or classic flyer that comes close to the A2A Cub at capturing RL flight dynamics.

I guess I just don't "get" this concern over speed. What's your hurry? You're not actually going anywhere, you know. Simulated flight is more about time than it is about speed, and you can fly the Cub for just as much or as little time as any other aircraft.

Boring? Really? How is faster simulated flight any less boring than slower simulated flight? How can realistic flight dynamics that accurately models the intricacies of the interaction between wing and air in takeoff, landing, and all aspects of flight be "boring"? Why would anyone who feels that way like flight swimming in the first place?

 

Cruising at speed at altitude, particularly in a plane without good flight modeling, so that it flies on rails, when I'm not actually going anywhere....that's boring. Taking off and landing...those are the fun parts...and you can do those a lot more often in a Cub than you can in just about any other plane, because you can do those just about anywhere.

 

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks the A2A Cub is boring just isn't flying it right!  :-)

 

Take off from Clam Harbor on the west side of Orcas Is. and fly to all the wonderful little OzX airstrips in the San Juans with door and windows open to see the sights.  Take off from Darrington and follow the river north to Concrete, with a detour up the eastern canyons to the little high mountain lakes (you'll need to plan your climbs well to make it up to them without circling), and then on to Israel's Farm and West Wind, and stay just a few hundred feet above the river.  Take off from McCall or Lemhi Co in Idaho and fly the Salmon river, never getting your wings above the canyon tops, and land at every little bush strip you find (and there are plenty of them).  Bonus points for never getting more than 200 ft agl, even when landing!!  

 

Boring!!  Hah!!

[Rimshot 1,133]

Well said Griphos!

[Jimm 437]

 

 

I guess I just don't "get" this concern over speed. What's your hurry? You're not actually going anywhere, you know. Simulated flight is more about time than it is about speed, and you can fly the Cub for just as much or as little time as any other aircraft.

 

Well put and when you stop to think about it, if you are still simming after realizing that you aren't really going anywhere, then you definitely have a strong enough interest.  My wife had asked me a long time ago what the appeal was in flight simulation.  I told her that "I've loved aircraft my whole life and I'd always wanted to pilot an aircraft but with my weak vision, that idea got shot down really quick.  I could never become an astronaut, be a pilot for an airline so this was the next best thing to experiencing what real world pilots do.  Yeah sure, I teach myself how to do something I couldn't do in real life, but at some point in time, it becomes relaxing and fun.  I'm not hurting anyone with what I do". Of course, I capped off the conversation with, "honey, it's better than drugs".

 

I still love "low and slow" but have more of an interest in jets.  Overall, I love it all.

 

-Jim

[z06z33 763]

I don't like slow planes in the sim or in real life. Never found anything interesting about cubs or champs besides a very low operating cost,which in the sim world is meaningless. 

[Alan_A 1,650]

Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to?

[Flyfox 114]

I couldn't agree more, Griphos! A2A's Cub is one of my all-time favorite FSX airplanes. Enjoy flying rather than programming flight computers!

[computerflyer 6]

I've had a lot of fun with the A2A Cub, flying in and out of small fields..  It's extremely realistic in my opinion (I've landed a Super Cub for real, but never a Cub).  The RealAir Citabria  series is also great.

 

I wasn't real impressed with the flight dynamics of the Flight Replicas Super Cub.  Then I tried out their Super Cub "Ultra".  On the first takeoff I was a little shocked by the feeling of the thing, how quick it got off the ground, how steep it climbed.  I thought that it couldn't be right.  But it turns out that the "Ultra" Super Cub's flight model was done by Bernt Stolle, who is one of the most highly respected designers of flight models...and Bernt Stolle owns an Ultra Super Cub himself, so he ought to know how it flies.  I recommend the Flight Replicas Super Cub Ultra. 

[Griphos 138]

Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to?

 

I've always been a big fan of Siduri's advice.  It's good advice.  

[Alan_A 1,650]

I've always been a big fan of Siduri's advice.  It's good advice.  

 

Agreed.  One could get much worse advice than Siduri's.   B)

[CrownCityMisfits 58]

Personally I love the A2A Cub. It's usually the first plane I fly in a newly purchased addon scenery. It is VERY slow though.

 

I can certainly recommend the FlightReplicas Super Cub, and all of the variants. GPS included  ^_^

[pilottj 198]

I can't think of a better airplane to experience actually 'flying' an airplane with just your instincts than the A2A Cub.  Plunking your A to B speed machine on autopilot and watching it follow a magenta line for 2 hours is not exactly instinctual flying.  If flying 70kts @ 1000' AGL a J-3 is 'boring', then 220kts at FL120 locked on a magenta line must be too.  In this impatient gadget dependent society we live in, sometimes going back to low and slow while just relying on the ol grey matter and instincts is just what the doctor ordered. 

 

Calling a particular type of flying 'boring' in flight sim really is a pot calling a kettle black lol.  Think of how many 'shoot em up' action gamers who look at us simmers and call us boring LOL.

 

Griphos is right, if you think in 'time' spent instead of distance flown, its all the same.  Whether you fly the Lancair Legacy in it's designed environment for an hour or whether you fly a J-3 in it's designed environment for an hour, it is really the same.   If you are trying to fly the J-3 on Legacy type trips, of course it will be boring.  Likewise, you will find it impossible to get the Legacy the kinds of places you can go with the Cub, nor will you be able to see the scenery in as close of detail as you can in the Cub.  The Cub and Legacy are different kind of tools designed for different tasks....use the proper tool for the given task and you will get the most out of it.  

 

Take the J-3 in marginal worsening VFR around the backwoods mountains, land it on some postage stamp river bank 'runway', load it to MGTOW, (and Heidi blocking your view), then try to make it out and make it back safely using just the instruments in the aircraft (NO GPS!), maybe a paper sectional (Skyvector) or a road map, and your instincts/grey matter.   Trust me, your grey matter will be just as taxed as if you are flying a Legacy in busy class B airspace in IFR.  

 

Cheers

TJ