For those familiar with small aircraft, the Carbon Cub bears a striking similarity to the classic J3 Piper Cub, which is not too surprising given that CubCrafters began as a company that repaired, restored, and modified J3 Pipers. Headquartered in Yakima, Washington, CubCrafters was established by businessman, engineer, and Piper Cub aficionado Jim Richmond in 1980, where his long-time admiration for the aircraft soon led to the company creating its own version. The Top Cub, its first aircraft, came out in 2004, was heavily derived from the Piper Super Cub, but performed well enough that a Chinese aircraft manufacturer purchased its type certificate, or airworthiness-approved design, in 2015.
Similarities aside, the Carbon Cub is superior to its look-alike, as its engine is over four times more powerful, while the original Piper Cub is one of the aircraft with the lowest horsepower. In addition, the Carbon Cub, as its name suggests, incorporates carbon fiber for its airframe, is 300 pounds lighter, and is constructed with half the number of parts of the original. Interestingly, Piper Aircraft itself has recently launched an astoundingly powerful descendant of its iconic plane with the 700-horsepower M700 Fury.
With its use of expensive materials and specialized manufacturing process, the prices of even used Carbon Cubs command top dollar. As an example, a 2018 EX2 model at $280,000, and a 2018 FX3 model for $345,000 from the pre-owned inventory of CubCrafters. Other websites like trade-a-plane have a barely used 2024 Carbon Cub EX3 for $385,000, while a 2011 Carbon Cub SS is $219,000. While it may seem pricey, a Carbon Cub is far from the exorbitant prices of the most expensive private jets, and for what it costs, its buyer gets a high-performance, more reliable, modern version of a classic aircraft.