In a recent post, I mentioned the exceptional descent performance of the Pilatus Porter. One could say a lot on the Porter’s performances, but it’s not the sole aircraft with outstanding characteristics.

I had the chance to fly a couple of times as passenger in a PA18 SuperCub. This improved version of the Cub is not flying exactly fast, but its take-off and climb performance are… well… unusual.

This video has been taken while taking-off from Geneva runway 05 grass. The displaced threshold (marked with inverted V and a bar across the runway) is 180 meters from runway begin.

Using the same runway with a Cessna 172 or a Saratoga make the trees look impressively close on initial climb. But with the SuperCub one harly notices trees in the axis ! The rest of the climb is also rather impressive. This plane is also able to make rapid descents in side-slips, and is fitted with skis for glacier landings.It time and money allows for, a tail-wheel training could be the next on my list…

UPDATE (24-05-08): This is now an higher resolution of the same video, hosted by revver.com.