The aircraft features a cantilever V-strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-tandem enclosed cockpit accessed via doors, fixed aluminium sprung conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration. The aircraft is made from welded CNC-milled4130 steel tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in dopedaircraft fabric. Its span wing has an area of and mounts flaps. The controls are driven by torque tubes, instead of cables, with the aileron tubes running inside the V-struts. The standard engine available is the Lycoming O-360-C1four-stroke powerplant, driving a Hartzell Trailblazer composite, constant speed propeller. In July 2019 a version powered by a Lycoming IO-390 engine and a Hartzell Pathfinder three-bladed propeller was introduced. The new powerplant requires a new cowling and baffles. The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of, giving a useful load of. The take-off and landing distance required at maximum gross weight has been demonstrated as.
Operational history
In reviewing the aircraft in June 2016 after an evaluation flight, AOPA reviewer Dave Hirschman concluded, "the 153-mph true airspeed top speed in level flight is impressive, but what’s far more meaningful to backcountry pilots is the tremendous range and operational flexibility they’ll have at more economical cruise settings. At a true airspeed of 120 mph, for example, an XCub pilot can cut fuel burn to 6 gph or less and have about eight hours endurance from a full tank of avgas. At a normal Super Cub cruise of 100 mph, the XCub can cover 1,000 statute miles...The XCub is exhilarating to fly and aesthetically appealing inside and out. The clever layout of the panel, passenger seating, and stowage compartments show it was built by people who know their customers and the features they value." In another June 2016 flight review, Paul Bertorelli of AVweb said, "The XCub has aluminum rather than steel or the Cub’s traditional bungee gear. This was a revelation for me because aluminum does a nice job of absorbing surplus touchdown energy; it’s far less energetic than steel or those blasted bungees in returning misdirected touchdown energy. This results in a unique feeling on touchdown. If you know you’re a little fast and you know you’re going to bounce, it’s just a small one and not the sharp-edged twang of steel or the slingshot of the bungees, but rather a firm pushback with no lateral wiggles at all. It’s quite confidence inducing because those small bounces don’t require the massive control inputs to arrest that a really bad spring-steel bounce would." At AirVenture in July 2016, the company announced that 20 XCubs had been sold. In a July 2016 review, Flying magazine writer Pia Bergqvist generally praised the aircraft, but found fault with the flap mechanism and resulting pitch changes with flap deployment. She wrote, "One thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the flap mechanism. Flaps are adjusted with a large handle in the upper left corner of the cockpit. The location of the handle makes it easy to access, and each flap setting is in a notch to prevent slippage. To get the first flap in position, you have to push slightly forward before grabbing the trigger to release the latch. For the second and third notches, however, you need topull back before the handle will release. It took a few approaches to get used to the opposite action. The new slotted flap design allows for air from the underside of the wing to flow over the flap surface. With the additional lift, the pitch increases a great deal with each flap setting. Lervold advised me to fly with some nose-down trim before adding flaps. Without using that technique, retrimming was definitely required after each notch to prevent going too slow."
