AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 64

position with amphibious floats is critical: Landing on water
with the wheels extended could be catastrophic. (If you win the
airplane but don't have a seaplane rating, ProMark Aviation in
Texas will provide training.)
The tundra tires and skis attach to CubCrafters' threeinch extended landing gear and Burl's Aircraft's Alpha-Omega
Suspension System. Developed and tested in Alaska, AOSS has
been flown in weather as cold as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The suspension system doesn't use bungees, hydraulics, or oil.
Instead, solid yet deformable polymers in the cylinders help
eliminate bouncing upon landing and provide cushioning for
the airframe when operating on rough terrain.
Because the Super Cub is designed with the backcountry in
mind, we wanted to provide extra gear to make sure you could
get out of those off-the-grid locations should a mechanical
problem arise. A portable Snap-on toolkit that fits perfectly in
the baggage compartment is filled with wrenches, screwdrivers
and flatheads, pliers, sockets, miniature pick set, mirror, light,
hammer, safety wire twisting pliers, and more.
AVIATION ADVENTURES

64 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

DAVID TULIS

When the Super Cub started its transformation in 2017, I began my
own aviation makeover to gain the experience I needed to ferry
the sweepstakes airplane to events around and the country and to
experience the different kinds of flying and remote locations that
are hallmarks of Super Cub operations. Because the sweepstakes
aircraft's restoration would take a full year, I turned to stand-in
Super Cubs and Cub variants like the PA-12 and PA-22 to complete some of the training before hopping in N954PC.
Lunch fly-outs took on new meaning during my seaplane
training with ProMark Aviation: Land on a river, dock, and
then walk up a hill to eat at a restaurant while overlooking the
Piper PA-12 amphibious trainer. Puttering around on water

after landing is simply more relaxing than any other type of aviation I've experienced, even soaring. Splashing down on the
Mississippi River and cruising 200 feet above the Atlantic Ocean,
just below John F. Kennedy International's Class B airspace along
Long Island, are experiences that wouldn't have happened without training for the seaplane rating or ferrying a Super Cub on
floats around the country.
To experience hard-core winter flying, I headed to Michigan
and Alaska. Landing a Super Cub on tundra tires on Michigan's
frozen lakes Mitchell and Cadillac was nerve-wracking, but the
feelings quickly turned to excitement with each touch and go.
Still in search of snow and skiplane flying, I flew a tailwheelconverted PA-22 on hydraulic skis around Alaska's Talkeetna
Mountains and Glacier. An overcast sky created flat light conditions, altering our depth perception and making it unsafe for
glacier landings. However, I learned firsthand that manually
pumping hydraulic skis up and down is difficult (thankfully the
Sweepstakes Super Cub's hydraulic skis are electrically actuated).
After scrapping glacier landings, I turned to a favorite pilot pastime in The Last Frontier: gravel bar hopping. A PA-22 on tundra
tires performs well, but my instructor and I passed up several
gravel bars perfect for a Super Cub but too short for the PA-22.
The Sweepstakes Super Cub's restoration was finished in time
for me to enjoy training in it through a fundamentals of mountain
flying course with McCall
Mountain/Canyon Flying
Seminars in Idaho. I could
The AOPA Super Cub
feel the temperature
Sweepstakes ends at 11:59
drop while approachp.m. Eastern time on May 31.
ing and crossing jagged,
Read the official rules and
snow-capped mountain
make sure you are entered
peaks and then rise again
for a chance to win at
as I approached a short
www.aopa.org/sweeps.

http://www.aopa.org/sweeps

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019