There aren’t many aviation records that have stood since the 1950s, but a Rotax-powered Carbon Cub bested an altitude record established in 1951 by climbing to 37,609 feet over California on Tuesday. That shattered Caro Bayley’s record of 30,203 feet in a Super Cub over Miami, establishing the benchmark for “Cub-like” aircraft that stood for 75 years. The Carbon Cub was flown by Jon Kotwicki, and time to the record-setting climb was 62 minutes. It launched from San Luis Obispo Airport on the central coast of California and was monitored by the Los Angeles ARTCC.
Technical support was provided by CubCrafters and Rotax, which put together the 916 iS engine used in the Carbon Cub UL. The aircraft was factory stock. The Cub-like record is not officially recognized by the Federation Aviation International, which keeps track of such things, but this week’s flight likely qualifies in the “Ultralight” category and it beat that record of 35,062 feet set by a Rutan Long-EZ in 1996. It was a balmy bluebird day in California when Kotwicki left the ground, but at the apex of his climb it was -51° F. He wore a parachute and had supplemental oxygen.
No doubt helped by some serious mountain wave. Congrats!
The picture shows the plane over the Pacific so no mountain wave. But the Rotax is turbocharged with a critical altitude somewhere around 17,000′, maybe higher. I believe my 915iS critical altitude is in the 15,000′ range and I imagine that, among other things, they either fitted a bigger turbo or adjusted the waste gate to allow more boost.
It’s cold up there! I completed my international soaring Diamond Badge with a climb in mountain wave to FL290 over the Rockies on a windy December day and it was really cold and I had no cabin heat. FL290 was the top of my ATC clearance but it was enough to meet the climb requirement for the badge. Total time from brake release to roll out was 45 minutes and I started the climb at around 11,000′ MSL
How is it possible for the engine to operate at those altitudes? Was it modified to feed oxygen to it? Has Density altitude been suspended?
Turbocharging.
Rotax could climb a Freightliner into outer space and the average American pilot would still snort at the engine because it doesn’t guzzle leaded fuel. 😂
Yeah, I still hear some people refer to them as toy engines simply because they don’t double as boat anchors and use tech from my dad’s lifetime rather than my grandpa’s infancy.