NXCub wins FAA approval

The company based in Yakima, Washington, won FAA approval of its two-seat, 180-horsepower XCub in 2016 after a quiet, multiyear certification process. Since then, it has added the Garmin G3X primary flight display/multifunction display to its type certificate as well as straight and amphibious floats, and 180-horsepower Lycoming O-360-C1G and 215-hp CubCrafters CC393i engines.

CubCrafters added a nosewheel option more than a year ago and called the revised version the “NXCub.” The NXCubs the company has delivered to date have been registered in the experimental category. Now, CubCrafters can build and sell them as fully FAA-certified aircraft.

Having a nosewheel, FAA-certified airplane has been part of CubCrafters’ plan for the XCub since its inception. The company’s goals were to increase access to backcountry flying among the estimated 85 percent of U.S. pilots who don’t have a tailwheel endorsement—and to sell fleets of the specialized airplanes to government agencies and other organizations that prefer nosewheels for operational safety and insurability.

No government agencies have made fleet purchases yet—but some are in the process of evaluating the NXCub.