PIPER PA-18-150

The Super Cub, the 150 hp development of the Piper Cub and the standard short-field and backcountry aeroplane of the last seventy years. Two seats in tandem, fabric over steel tube, big flaps, huge wing, and enough power to leave a field in a few hundred feet. It is used for bush flying, glider towing, banner towing, pipeline patrol, wildlife survey and sheer recreation, and nothing has ever really replaced it. The 150 hp aeroplane with its 1,750 lb gross weight arrived in the mid-1950s and Piper changed it very little afterwards; the differences between years are in the details rather than the design. Aircraft from 1971 were covered in Ceconite rather than cotton, which lasts far longer; 1976 brought electric fuel gauges in place of the sight gauges; 1977 replaced the generator with a 60-amp alternator, worth having on anything with radios and strobes; and 1978 brought metal-skinned ailerons and Cleveland brakes. Piper stopped building the type in 1983, then resumed from 1988 until 1994, and those late aircraft are the most sought-after unmodified Super Cubs. In practice the modifications matter more than the year, because very few aircraft remain as built.

It is also expensive out of all proportion to what it is, because supply is fixed and demand is not — a good Super Cub costs more than a nearly new four-seater. Practically, it carries two people and very little else, cruises at only 100 knots, is noisy, and has no meaningful instrument capability. The fabric is a recurring cost. It is a taildragger with a light tail and a large wing, so it needs currency and wind awareness, and insurers will require tailwheel time. Very few aircraft remain in stock configuration; most have larger engines, big tyres, extended baggage, different gear or float provision, and those modifications determine both value and what the aeroplane can actually do.