Australian pilot flies carbon Cub UL 31,100 km from US factory to home

An Australian pilot flew a Carbon Cub UL from the United States to his home in Australia. The trip covered about 31,100 kilometres, five continents and 22 countries. It is probably the longest flight ever made by this ultralight type.

David Green left the CubCrafters factory in Yakima, in the US state of Washington, on 22 July, headed for Port Macquarie on Australia's east coast. He called the aircraft "Dusty".

According to the account, Green saw no reason to take the new aircraft apart, ship it and reassemble it at home when he could just fly it. His first leg took him to Oshkosh, site of the world's largest aviation show. The route then passed over Canada, Iceland, Scotland and Guernsey to Italy, and on through Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and beyond.

The report of the flight is based on the portal Avbrief.com. About eleven months earlier, another pilot flying a CubCrafters aircraft set a record of a different kind. Jon Kotwicki of Alaska reached 37,609 feet, about 11,463 metres, in a Carbon Cub. That was well above the 30,203 feet Caro Bayley Bosca reached in 1951 in a Piper PA-18 Super Cub. The earlier altitude record stood for decades until it was surpassed. According to the account, a modified 160-horsepower Rotax engine and a special oxygen system contributed to the altitude performance.