In honor of the Piper J-3 Cub’s seventy-fifth anniversary this year, Redbird Flight Simulations has come up with—you guessed it—a realistic, full-motion, Cub simulator.
The sophisticated, computer-controlled, electronic box with a 180-degree wrap-around view mimics the low-tech Cub’s flight characteristics, and some of its ground mannerisms, too. To start the simulation, for example, someone needs to spin the propeller manually on the outside of the box. Contact!
“We built this as a fun, one-off project in honor of the Cub and we wanted to have it at Oshkosh to celebrate the anniversary,” said Todd Willinger, Redbird CEO. “If someone wants to buy it, we’ll be glad to make more. But this was something we are doing to mark an aviation milestone.”
The yellow-painted Cub sim is based on Redbird’s MX2 model which typically sells for about $50,000.
“I don’t know exactly what the price for a Cub sim would be,” he said. “But I’m guessing it would be a lot less than a new Super Cub.”