The modern version of the Piper Cub has a much stronger engine (180hp or 215hp) and updated avionics and is a real powerhouse and joy to fly. The NXCub even sports a nose wheel.
Whitefish-Babb-Langton
On this flight we (Chergo and Chris joined in) crossed the Rocky Mountains twice, once in westerly direction over Logan Pass (as in my Flying Boat World Tour) and once in easterly direction via Glenns Lake. The winds in Babb were strong, very strong and a good cross wind landing was required. On the back flight many new peaks from white to red were found. Chief Mountain (white), Bear Mountain (red), Pyramid Peak and after the passage at Wahcheechee Mountain finally Kootenai Peak. We followed the valley down to Langton airport with its sloped runway. A perfect stop to end this short bush flying adventure.
Redding-Dillon Field
I had already flown this route around Mt. Shasta once with the normal Cub (see 3 Cubs to Crater Lake), but wanted to show a friend of mine the beauty of low flying in MSFS. And since the USA has received its World Update by now, the trip was even more beautiful then the first time.
Nikolsdorf – Zell am See – Trieben
A sightseeing flight through the alps took Mario and me from Nikolsdorf to Zell am See. Fighting hard to get the NXCub up to 13000ft we followed the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse up to Pasterze glacier and Grossglockner itself. Flying in heavy clouds made navigation a bit tricky, but thanks to the magnificient instrumentation in the NXCub we made it down safely.
After a short break we took off again in a easterly direction and followed the valley passing ski resorts like Flachau, Alternmarkt and Schladming. To the left the mountains of the Dachstein gave excellent views. The weather cleared up a bit and it was smooth sailing up to Trieben, a nice little airport tucked away between the Phyrn Autobahn and the village.
New Guinea Bushtrip
Leg 1 & 2
As we enjoyed the NX Cub so much on our last trip, I looked for further flights we could do. We came across the New Guinea Buhstrip in MSFS and used that as a basis. Mario, Chergo and I lined up at Wewak (AYWK) along the north coast. After takeoff we turned south and flew inland to Timbunke (TEB), our first stop. After refueling we took off again and followed the Sepik river west. Over Chambri Lake we made a touch and go at Klimbit and another touch and go into Ambunti. We continued to follow Sepik river until we reached Bowami Mission were we parked right next to the river.
New Guinea Bushtrip
Leg 3
Chergo and Jörg joined in on this one. We started out of Hauna Airstrip and followed Sepik river for a bit then turned South to follow the smaller May River. May River Airport was the first stop and was surrounded by trees as usual for these strips. I think I scrapped a tree top on the landing. A quick checkup revealed no major damage and we continued on.
Next up was Hotmin Airport, still along the May River. Jörg had to fight the Caravan a bit on these short grass fields, usually having runways shorter than 500m. After a quick turnaround we were up again and followed May River further South. A quick touch and go at Fiyak Airport and we headed for the mountains. While Jörgs Caravan and Chergo Monster Cub had no issues getting over the ridge to the valley leading to Yapsei Airport, my NXCub struggled a bit to reach the desired height. I just grazed the top of the trees while going over.
We took a good look at Yapsei Airport on arrival, but made a slight detour down South to Ibil Airport. This turned a bit into a caynon run over the Oklip river with hardly a hundred feet between us and the river banks. And since Klip river hade wide shores near Yapsei we also landed there on our return.
The final hop to Yapsei was a shart one and after 2 hours of flight we reached the final destination of Leg 3.
New Guinea Bushtrip
Leg 4
We started out of Yapsiei aiport and a few rain showers to the east gave spectacular views. But we did not linger to long, but started to search already for the next airport. Jörg changed over from to Cessna to a Cub there and up we went.
We dove through valleys and over mountains quite close and had great fun finding and landing on the many small strips on the way to Western New Guinea. Some of them were steep, most of them had vegatiation around and all of them were short (<500m usually). Even with the Cubs, getting down with the right speed was a challenge and we did a few approaches on some before finally setting down our wheels.
Time flew by as the mountains got higher and higher. The last approach had another challenge as the direction of the runway was perpedicular to the valley leading up to it, hence tight turns were required. But we all made it in one piece to Nipsan Airport.
Here I changed over to the Black Square Analog Caravan which I will fly for the remainder of the trip.
