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The iCub

I guess you had to know this was coming:

As the name hints, the iCub brings together an updated version of the classic airplane design, with an Apple iPad front and center in the cockpit that can be used for navigation, checking the weather, or … well, the list goes on…

With the iPad on board, the pilot will be able to enjoy much of what is offered in expensive aviation GPS units for a fraction of the cost. And after arriving at your destination, you have an iPad that you can pop out of the panel (picture below) and enjoy watching movies, reading a book or whatever you think the iPad is best at doing.

Groovy.

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32 comments to The iCub

  • I’d like to watch a twenty hour LSA pilot taxi, take-off and land a taildragger in a crosswind.

    • virgil xenophon

      How about just maintaining position holding for the active in those winds? :)

    • steveH

      Some of us flying LSAs have a bit more than 20 hours TT. And until I get my medical renewed, I’m not flying anything more capable.

      Drat.

  • Mike M.

    I’ve always thought this might be a better approach to certifying avoinics than the FAA’s STC process. Certify the mount s part of the airplane, certify the widget as a strap-down unit.

    Kind of makes you wonder what an iPad would make of aerobatics.

  • The perfect iPad accessory! A Cub! I want.

  • SK1

    AWESOME use of the technology, Dude…..” the company provided the mock-up photo shown here and says the airplane will be at EAA Airventure in Oshkosh. ” –

    Well if I wasn’t tied up working as a much needed support person for the US Military in TRASH-CAN-ISTAN, I might be tempted to jaunt over if I wasn’t also busy trying to figure out which stupid bast-rd(insightful politician) thought staying here through the end of the decade was such a good idea…

  • Curtis

    And with the very very best anti-virus/malware software known to microsoft to keep off and away those nasty virus trojan thingies.

  • Edward

    A Cub? There’s an App for that!

  • GRB

    Just think of what you can do on a boring cross country. Seinfeld would be my preference, or that wooden maze and marble game.

    Groovy indeed.

  • That is revolting and disgusting. Is it not bad enough that I have to insert yellow foam plugs into my ears when attending Divine Services, so as to attenuate the electronically amplified music which the chicks like?

    Oh, no, a classical icon, a Cub, must be soiled with pixels and windows and clickies and suchlike things.

    A Cub is supposed to have a tachometer (mechanical), an airspeed indicator (pneumatic), an altimeter (pneumatic), a compass (magnetic), and that’s about it.

    With all the worrying about our infrastructure being destroyed by nuclear pulses set off high above us, one would think that old tech should be encouraged.

  • MaxDamage

    Groovy! How much?

    You know, Lex, this might make for a decent replacement for the Varga you fly on weekends. Think about it! 100hp in a Cub makes for a fairly decent power/weight ratio, yet with such a small size even the most ham-fisted monkey in the rear seat can’t get into something the pilot can’t get him out of, provided there’s a couple thousand feet of altitude to work with. And it would seemingly be cheaper to fly, per hour, than the Varga, which would allow for a lower fee and hence access to more customers.

    The iPad part is the cherry on top — got shot down? There’s an app for that. Use one of those fireplace simulators, spice it up with some rough motor sounds and screaming dive sirens off a Ju-88. I’m sure the possibilities are endless!

    – Max

  • Mongo

    So, with wireless and a 4 channel receiver in the Cub, we’re looking at remote controlled flying on those days when you’re med down? That could be fun. ;)

  • G-man

    blasphemy. next they will be colorizing re-runs of Andy Griffith and the Maltese Falcon. Oh, say what? Or as my Dad used to say “son, a made up wh0re is still a wh0re”. At 16 he solo’d in one (Cub, not a wh0re)at Spartanburg Downtown Airport on 08 May 45 – VE Day. always loved that little plane and flew it every chance he could until he hit 70. One regret is that he and I never flew in it together. almost 6000 hrs and never been in one.

  • Bill K.

    Coming next – the iJSF?

  • Sarge

    I do wish someone could explain to the ground-bound like I, why such things are allowed in aircraft but absolutely forbidden in automobiles if the driver can see it?

    Is the reasoning that driving is more complex than flying? Srsly?

    • Idaho Joe

      I wouldn’t say absolutely forbidden. More and more cars are coming with large screen GPS units installed.

      • Sarge

        GPS, yes… but those built into cars:
        1) lock out a large number of their menu options when the car is moving
        2) require you, every time it powers up, to swear that you won’t operate it while you are driving

        And none are allowed by federal statute to display video or other entertainment programming when the car is moving if they are within the drivers’ field of view.

  • SFC D

    I believe my old man (LTC D) is currently rotating at a furious rate in his grave. Deface and profane a classic aircraft like that? An abomination before the Lord!

    • virgil xenophon

      SFC D, reminds me of the story of the little old lady in tennis shoes, blue & white poka-dot dress, straw hat w. daisey and umbrella who strolled into a London office of British Air, slammed her umbrella down on the desk and demanded that the airline cease business as airplanes were an Abomination of the Lord. In typical British unfazed manner the Mgr replied politely: “Then Madame, just how do you propose that we should all travel to far places in a timely manner?” Came the answer: “Easy. They should all ride in TRAINS–as God intended they should!” LOL.

      • Quartermaster

        Imagine the length of the tunnel from LA to Honolulu. Or LA to Tokyo. I’d hate to see the electric bill for the ventilation motors.

        • Flugelman

          Which brings to mind the story of the guy who was afraid to fly, had family in Hawaii, and found a genie in a bottle. The genie asks for his one wish and the guy asks for a bridge to Hawaii to visit his family.

          The genie replies “Are you nuts? Do you realize how much matériel it would take to do that? Ask for something else!” “OK”, the guy replies, “How about letting me understand my wife…”

          Genie says “Do you asphalt or concrete on that bridge?”

  • zipprsuitdsungod

    Hmmmmm. I’ve never been an iPad fan, but I suppose if I could find a Cub or Super Cub that didn’t cost and arm and a leg, I might change my mind!

    • juvat

      Well according to their site, the prices range from ~$77k to ~$93K. Possibly doable. Course you don’t go very far, very fast or carry very much, but with the big tires, I could probably take off and land from my back pasture. HMMMMMM.

  • Quartermaster

    It needs an autopilot and strike finder.

    Now I’ll go hide while the heresy hunters go crazier trying to find me.

  • Rat70fj

    Looks like some pretty rough wx around Tahoe.

  • Have a look at the July issue of AOPA magazine page 56. The open Waco bi-plane now comes with a Garmin glass cockpit. “Techno-Waco”.
    Next they’ll put a G1000 in a Wright Flyer.

    Loved flying the Cub with the doors open on a summer day. My cousin’s was low tech. Fuel gage? Nothing but a piece of red wire bobbing up and down on a cork. When the wire goes down, so do you.

  • Quartermaster

    Turbo-normalization. That’s the ticket.

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