iCub, Meet Smart Cub

Those hard-working stalwarts at Legend, the number one US producer of LSA, keep finding interesting things for folks like me to write about. 
<> Trish Jackson is an Ohio native who flies Airbus freight carriers all over Europe.  She learned flying from her mother at age 13 and still remembers a memorable quote mom made on a flight:   "Look at these rivers. It's like God carved them out with his finger.”

Trish owned a vintage Cub at one point in her career, but a couple years ago felt the urge to own one again - a brand new one.  She kicked some tires and lit some fires for a year or two, then took a Legend Cub demo flight.
Last April she joined the annual Legend rite of spring gaggle -- a trip I had the distinct pleasure of making in 2008 -- to fly  formation with a bunch of Legend Cubs from Sulphur Springs, TX to Lakeland, FL for the annual Sun 'n Fun spring flyin.
That sold her.
“It was the attention to detail," she says of her decision, "and its open cockpit flying."
Imagine climbing out of a heavy and into a Cub on the same day...what could keep you sharper than that?
<> Sass and class: the Legend Cub can be ordered with Garmin G3X displays, a telling meld of classic flying and ultra-modern digital situational awareness that extols the marvelous opportunities we have in LSA flight.
All those functions -- real-time weather, terrain, METARs, NOTAMs, PIREPs, traffic and more -- can come in real handy whether you're tooling around in open class G airspace country or joining the pattern at a major commercial airport.
The Garmin G3X glass cockpit packs a ton of info into its displays, including attitude/directional guidance, electronic engine monitoring, moving-map GPS, airport diagrams, synthetic vision and more.
<> Looking ahead to the 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub J3 in 2012, what a hoot it would be to fly a Legend Classic J3 into Oshkosh or any other airshow.
Legend's new Classic is an updated-but-faithful version of the J3, at a $94K price.
Updates include sliding left window, electric start, disc brakes (careful with those!) and other modernizings to enhance safety while staying true to the original, immortal J3.
Must. Save. More. Money and get my own...I say that a lot about new LSA I get to fly, but since I'm building some skills in a 1946 J3 these days at my local airfield, I'm currently all swooney over the wonderful Cub...all density-altitude-struggling 65 horsepower of her.
Next time you're at an airshow, stop by and say hello to owners Darin Hart and Kurt Sehnert and stalwart crewfolk like Pat Bowers: they're part of what makes covering the LSA scene such a pleasure.