From The Editor: Cubbin’ Around

This year marks the 75th year from when William T. Piper first created the J-3 Cub in 1938.

This year marks the 75th year from when William T. Piper first created the J-3 Cub in 1938. Since then, the low-and-slow, two-seat fabric taildragger in "Cub yellow" with its signature black lightning bolt has won the hearts of pilots everywhere. In July, more than 100 Cubs flew to EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wis., to celebrate in a "field of yellow." In this issue, James Lawrence talks to several of those owners and shares their stories and passion.

In all, more than 10,000 aircraft attended and 2,500 more airplanes were on display. There was Chip Yates' electric Long-ESA, a modified Long-EZE that he set a 202 mph speed record with just prior to Oshkosh, and the TBM 850 Elite, which received certification of its new flexible cabin seating.

In his show roundup, James Lawrence features a mix of the best new airplanes, such as the Akoya, a two-seat composite amphib with folding wings, and cockpit technology, including a new app from Lightspeed that lets Zulu headset users record cockpit audio onto their iPad or iPhone---great for instant playback in case of a missed ATC transmission. And there were crowd-pleasers, such as Redbird's J-3 Cub motion simulator, complete with a prop that you spin by hand to activate the simulation.

For this month's pilot reports, Senior Editor Bill Cox traveled to Wichita, Kan., to visit with Cessna Aircraft. He and Cessna Chief Pilot Kirby Ortega flew the 2013 Cessna Corvalis TTx, which features the new Garmin G2000 touch screen and a distinctive geometric paint scheme. James Lawrence reports on the Rainbow BushCat, a rugged LSA built in South Africa.

Patty Wagstaff, who keeps busy flying as an Air Attack Pilot for the California Forestry Department, recently found time for several flights in a Cessna 150 Aerobat with her friend Heather Jay. In what Patty calls "pre-aerobatic training," she teaches about angle of attack and how to keep the aircraft in trim by use of rudder. It's her favorite type of instruction because students improve their basic stick-and-rudder skills and gain confidence that can be applied to their everyday flying.

With 200 hours in her logbook, reader Sue Smith is a relatively new pilot, and she rarely strays far from her home airport in Michigan. So it was an adventure of a lifetime when she joined a pilot friend in his restored 1946 Navion on a flight over New York City's Hudson River. In "Flight I'll Never Forget," Sue explains the VFR corridor rules---a much more straightforward process than she had expected---and the thrills of flying by the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.

What was your most memorable flight? Send your stories and photos to editor@planeandpilotmag.com.

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