Ten years ago, when the FAA authorized the new light-sport aircraft (LSA) class, it could hardly have imagined the extreme variety of aircraft designs that would emerge. After all, the original intention of the LSA rules was to offer a comparatively inexpensive alternative to production machines that were priced well beyond most pilot’s budgets.

You might think the feds’ limitations—two seats, fixed-gear and fixed-pitch (or ground-adjustable) prop, 1,320 pounds gross weight, a max 120-knots cruise and 45-knot stall—would automatically constrain designs to fairly simple limits.

You’d think wrong. It was perhaps inevitable that LSA designers would look for methods to improve their designs without violating the rules, and a number of the survivors in the LSA movement have done exactly that.

At one time, there were more than 100 companies vying for the LSA dollar. Today, that number has been cut in half, but the remaining contenders have demonstrated that they understand the market, though it’s likely there will still be some fallout in light-sport manufacturers.

Inevitably, there have been a number of Cub semi-clones. Because of its light weight, the stock J-3 Cub is allowed to operate as an LSA, as well as a certified CAR-3 production aircraft. The J-3 complies with all the federal requirements for light-sport operation, and in some places, semi-original J-3s are still available for rent as either LSA or production aircraft.

Anyone who has flown a real J-3 will be happy to brag about its considerable talents, and they’ll probably mention a few of its shortcomings, as well. For that reason, the basic Cub became a good starting point for building a better short-field taildragger.

Be advised, the Just SuperSTOL (SSXL) ain’t a J-3 clone. The tendency is to call any two-seat, high-wing taildragger a Cub clone, but the Just Aircraft SuperSTOL XL is actually a whole different breed of flying machine, owing virtually nothing to the Cub. About the only real resemblance is the tailwheel, and even that’s far removed from the Cub configuration. The Just improves on every performance parameter established by the venerable Super Cub way back in the early 1950s.

With its cowling not yet painted, the SuperSTOL XL is put through flight-testing to determine its performance capabilities.

One of the most obvious upgrades is the option of more power. Piper’s initial Cub began life with an underwhelming 37 hp. This was upgraded to 40, then 65, then 85, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135 and eventually 150 hp. For that reason, it’s sometimes hard to find a completely stock Cub. Most have been fitted with larger engines as they’ve reached TBO.

Like so many kids of the 1950s, my first lightplane ride, at age 13 in Anchorage, Alaska, was in a Civil Air Patrol, 85 hp, “Super” Cub. I “logged” about 20 hours riding in the back seat and saw firsthand what the little airplane could do, flying on wheels, skis and, believe it or not, floats.

The top production Super Cub featured a Lycoming O-320 that cranked out 150 hp. The Just SSXL is a side-by-side two-seater that raises the bar even further to 180 hp.

In keeping with his airplane’s model designation, designer Troy Woodland configured the Just SuperSTOL XL (“XL” stands for extra long) with a 21-foot, six-inch fuselage, a full two feet longer than his original Highlander model of several years ago. To partially compensate for the cabin and tail stretch, Woodland pushed the cowling six inches farther forward to accommodate the ULPower UL520 180 hp engine and still preserve the CG. For those seeking truly King Kong performance in a bush-capable airplane, the ULPower engine is top of the line.

If you’re looking to truly dazzle your friends and intimidate your competition, you’ll want the 21-inch or 29-inch tundra tires that allow the Just SSXL to take on fairly rough strips without undue concern. In fact, even larger tires can be mounted, but at some point, weight becomes a consideration.

One interesting point about any of the bush tire options: They can serve as impromptu floats that allow you to land in a river or lake, water taxi to the shore, chop the throttle when you hit the beach and lower the tail to the rocks. Just remember to keep your speed up when you’re water skiing, so the airplane doesn’t sink.

Visibility is great from the SSXL’s cockpit, with windows all around and a large skylight above. Instrumentation is fairly basic.

The SuperSTOL employs leading edge slats that begin to deploy asymmetrically as the airplane slows through 40 mph and helps impart talents you wouldn’t imagine possible unless you see the airplane in action. Leading edge slats have been enhancing aircraft performance since at least WWII. Germany installed them on their first-line fighter, the Me109, in the late 1930s. This allowed Luftwaffe pilots to pull harder and maneuver more aggressively during dogfights, providing advantages over Allied fighters with fixed leading edges.

After the war, the Russian Antonov AN-2 Colt, allegedly the world’s largest single-engine airplane, also mounted automatic slats that allowed the Colt to slip into miniature non-airports in Russia’s hinterlands where improved runways are a rarity. Though Colts are now long since out of production, thousands were built under license in a dozen countries, and even today, AN-2s earn their keep transporting people and things to unlikely places.

The toe-in built into the landing gear is obvious in this view of the SSXL.

The SuperSTOL XL utilizes virtually every aerodynamic and short-field trick available to fly takeoffs and landings in heart-stopping distances. The 132-square-foot, metal-covered wings are fitted with VGs (vortex generators), the flaps are huge Fowlers that translate aft as they deflect down to 40 degrees, and as mentioned above, Just also incorporates automatic leading edge hydraulic slats to allow short-field performance only slightly less than that of a helicopter. Additionally, the wing features aileron-activated spoilers to improve low-speed response and further reduce stall.

Each main gear features a long hydraulic shock absorber that will depress a full 12 inches to cushion a hard landing. The gear struts themselves are designed to bow out as much as 21 inches at the axles to further absorb landing loads. Even the tailwheel, often a weak point on conventional-gear airplanes, has a hydraulic shock absorber.

All this technological innovation allows the Just SuperSTOL to do amazing things in short strips. It also provides climb rates as high as 3,000 fpm, and full flap stall comes at a ridiculously low 32 mph.

I flew with Just factory test pilot and Alaskan bush pilot Harrison Smith out of the abbreviated ultralight/lightplane grass runway at the 2015 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. There were two SuperSTOL demonstrators flying almost continuously at the show, but their flight demos were limited, as the top of ultralight pattern was 300 feet AGL to avoid conflicting with incoming Oshkosh traffic. Still, Smith was able to show off the airplane’s impressive climb and short-field capabilities, probably 150- to 200-foot takeoffs and less than 100-foot landings.

The Just features a wide, tall, comfortable cabin with a large skylight overhead that allows you to look into turns and spot traffic on the ground or in the sky. The airplane comes standard with a tailwheel lock to keep the nose pointed forward during the takeoff run, a major point if you choose the 180 hp UL 520 option. A 1,320-pound airplane with 180 hp on the nose has a power loading of only 7.3 pounds/hp and an appropriate amount of torque to demand a heavy right pedal on takeoff.

A max-performance landing demands a high angle of attack (roughly 25 degrees), and an aircraft carrier-style kerplunk landing with the tail touching down first and the mains following a second later.

Woodland designed the Just SSXL with folding wings to allow storing it in any available space. Total width with the wings folded is eight feet, six inches, the maximum allowed for towing on the nation’s highways.

Since the SuperSTOL XL’s debut at Sun ‘n Fun this spring, Just Aircraft has produced 20 SSXL kits. LSA kit price is $38,900, but Woodland and his partner, Gary Schmitt, hope to certify a special LSA (S-LSA) factory-built model soon, so you’ll be able to travel to Walhalla, S.C., fly away with a complete airplane and never have to turn a wrench.

Oh yes, Smith reports that max cruise is about 110 mph, in case anyone cares. Personally, I’d be having so much fun jumping in and out of 400-foot strips that I probably wouldn’t even consider cross-country flight. That is, after all, consistent with the company’s name and slogan, “Just Plane Fun.”

For more information, please contactJust Aircraft, Walhalla, South Carolina, Tel: (864) 718-0320, Email: contact@justaircraft.com. On the web at www.justaircraft.com.

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Just Aircraft SuperSTOL XL
SPECIFICATIONS
Engine(s) make/model:	Lycoming 0-320, UL520
Horsepower:	100-180
Fuel type:	100
Landing gear type:	Conv/fxd
Max TO weight (lbs.):	1320
Empty weight (lbs.):	770
Useful load–std (lbs.):	580
Usable fuel–std (gal./lbs.):	27
Payload–full std fuel (lbs.):	418
Power Loading (lbs./hp):	7.3 minimum
Wingspan:	31 feet, 3 inches
Overall length:	21 feet, 6 inches
Wing area (sq. ft.):	132
Wing loading (lbs./sq. ft.):	10.0
Power loading (lbs./hp):	7.33
Seating capacity:	2
Cabin doors:	2
Cabin width (in.):	44
PERFORMANCE
Cruise speed (mph–75%):	102
Best rate of climb, SL (fpm):	3000
Stall (Vso—mph):	37
Takeoff distance (ft.):	150
Landing distance (ft.):	100

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I’m about to commit aviation at Paradise City, the light-sport/ultralight demo area of Sun ‘n Fun’s annual Fly-In & Expo. It’s spring, when pilots’ fancies swing like a weathervane to thoughts of flight. Eager folks line the temporary orange plastic flightline fence, specifically to watch us take off. Showtime!

Rocket To Stardom
The airplane is Just Aircraft’s SuperStol, a dope-and-fabric taildraggin’ LSA, (offered as an EAB kit, too) with an all-metal wing, welded 4130 steel cage and automatically extending full-span leading edge slats.

But wait, there’s more…Fowler flaps; Frise ailerons; full-span, two-segment, automatically deploying leading edge slats; a shock-absorbing tailwheel and the pièce de résistance: a whizzbang, long-throw, air shock main gear oleo strut (to soak up 18 inches of vertical wheel travel), topped off with humongous, almost cartoony bush tires.

Remember the Twilight Zone movie where a crew member sketched wheels that appeared beneath a crippled B-17 to save the day? Yeah: tires like that.

These key components make major contributions to get in/get out anywhere with STOL (Short TakeOff/Landing) performance. Does the name Helio Courier ring a familiar note?

It’s not therefore surprising that designer Troy Woodland’s dream all along was to morph his highly popular Highlander kit bush plane (300 delivered to date) into a Helio Courier-like LSA performer.

So here I am, strapped into the very comfortable left seat, wondering how well the SuperStol moniker will stand up to hands-on scrutiny. Troy Woodland mans the right seat—his favorite perch—and checks the readouts one more time. The Rotax has warmed up nicely in the humid Florida morning air, and…

“Ready?” he asks.

“You bet.”

He pulls in two notches on the Johnson bar flap lever, and the big Fowlers move back and down to the 25-degree setting. Full range is 40 degrees; talk about barn doors.

Woodland cobs the throttle, we jump forward, and then things happen in a real hurry: The tail pops up and he pulls back on the stick and kabonk! Out comes the left leading edge slat and kabonk! Out comes the right leading edge slat, and we’re climbing out. Yep. Just like that, and quicker than it took you to read that sentence.

“Well, that didn’t suck,” I say. Woodland grins and says simply, “Yeah.”

Later, I check his two-person demo takeoffs with a stopwatch from the sidelines: three to four seconds typically, in perhaps 75 to 100 feet of ground roll. Not bad. No, not bad a’tall.

There’s no VSI on board—the minimal panel sports a Garmin Aera 500, GRT EIS engine information readout, altimeter and airspeed steam gauges, and that’s about it—but I’d guess our climb is in 900 fpm range.

Empty weight is 780 pounds (up to 835 depending on equipment), so with 27 gallons fuel, you get 378 pounds useful load at best. Build it as an Experimental Amateur Built certified version (same airframe but rated to 1,500 pounds MTOW), and you’re up to 558 pounds useful. Either way, SuperStol isn’t for loading up with baggage to fly long distances in, but a relatively slow-flying (90-100 knots), dust-whomping, bog-stompin’ funship at heart.

Or as my host avers, “I’m not interested in flying fast. I’m interested in landing in places nobody else can land in.”

And They Call It Airwork
Away from the air show grounds, we tool around over lush green fields. I’ve already settled in and am appreciating good visibility all around, including the big, cambered overhead skylight with enough headroom for pilots up to 6’7″.

I like the vernier. It doesn’t have the Cessna typical push button, but it’s easy to over-power the adjustable friction lock. The trim lever is there on the floor where your right hand falls and is a treat to work: like so much of the SuperStol design—functional and effective.

“Well, the composite prop could be a little smoother,” Woodland says after I comment on the smooth engine feel. “I haven’t dynamic balanced it yet.”

That’s insight into his perfectionist nature. SuperStol is his tinker-work in progress, and he’ll be making small refinements even as production steps up to accommodate the many orders already on the books.

I pull some turns. Nice! Handling is light and response surprisingly nimble, even with those ginormous balloon tires hanging down in the relative wind. There’s minimal adverse yaw and no over banking or rollout tendency. Even at 20 degrees of bank, I can see into the arc of the turn through the skylight, always an enjoyable and welcome safety feature in a high-wing plane. The airplane talks to you in every position with its lively control feel. Sweet.

I try some Dutch rolls and do pretty darn well, and that’s giving full credit to the airplane. We attempt some stalls. I say “attempt” because if LSA as a class are generally known for fugoid-style, mush-you-huskies, highly forgiving stall characteristics, SuperStol is just kind of ridiculous in how doggedly it hangs on, with full aft stick, refusing to break.

Slowing down below 60 mph, the slats kabonk out, and as we drop below 30 mph (not knots) indicated, with stick nearly all the way back, there’s a noticeable stall warning burble but no break. Keeping wings level with light touches of rudder is a breeze, I could nose-high my way along like this forever and enjoy the local view.

Woodland says the burble comes from the vortex gates along the top leading edge, an experiment he may reverse since the pre-gates prototype had a smoother, low-burble mush feel, which he prefers. “I just want a gentle airplane.”

Slow flight speed testing into the brisk, gusty wind, then reversing course, I plot a ground speed of around 25 mph…again, that’s mph, folks…on the Aera 500. Into a stronger wind, we could be going backward under full control!

The Eye-Popping, No-Flare Landing
Okay, we know SuperStol can launch from a postage-sized field—Just’s home strip is a 400-foot hill, with the hangar at the top—handle like a sports car and hover like a falcon on a windy ridge. It’s comfortable, really fun and easy to fly. But now for the acid test: Troy Woodland’s signature aircraft carrier-style parachute landing. “I can do a full-stall landing at 22 mph by myself or touch down at probably 25 mph with two on board,” he says, softening me up as if aerodynamic heresy was his daily mantra.

Talked through his typical landing simulation at altitude, I chop throttle and haul the stick all the way back to the stops. Speed drops back down into the 20s, yet I find it easy to hold a stable, secure-feeling, high sink rate mush.

I look through the door window. Woodland says the sink rate is around 850 fpm like this, and it looks it—the ground is rising up like the moon’s surface must have looked to Neil Armstrong in those final, immortal 500 feet. “On a calm day,” he says, “we’d take this kind of descent all the way to the ground. By the last 50 feet, people, especially pilots, are saying, ‘What. The hell. Are you doin’?'”

We slide into the pattern at Paradise, and when it looks like we’re way, way too high, Woodland chops throttle, the slats bonk out, we settle into that nose-high descent rate and I’m thinking if I were in any other LSA besides a powered parachute, I’d be giving it the gas!

The glide angle to touchdown must be 30 degrees, and the sensation is like riding a glass elevator down 20 stories.

Memories of hang-glider landings flood my brain at the ground rush, which is probably why I’m not white-knuckling the airframe. Then the tailwheel hits, and a couple days later or so, it seems the main gear plops firmly onto the runway. I watch the big oleo gear strut just soak up that sizeable vertical speed bump without a whimper. We don’t carom back up into the sky, Woodland works the oversize brakes, and in 30 feet or so, no lie, we’ve spun around to taxi back. What the hell indeed. Man, what a hoot.

If you have a hankering for fun crazy stuff like landing on the sides of mountain ridges and steep meadows and deep-canyon dinner plates…and jumping back into the air…you won’t find an all-around better-performing STOL airplane in the LSA camp.

Lest there be any lingering doubt, I now affirm for all and sundry: The Just Aircraft SuperStol deserves every letter of its name.

Frise, Fowler!
SuperStol designer Troy Woodland knew that the SuperStol’s performance would benefit greatly from Fowler flaps, Frise ailerons and leading edge slats. Let’s find out why. Frise ailerons are mounted to rotate at their 25% to 30% chord line. This innovation decreases stick forces. When the aileron moves up into the relative wind to make its wing go down, the leading edge of the aileron drops down into the airflow underneath the wing. That air force against the aileron’s leading edge aids in rotating the aileron, reducing required stick force. That deflecting air flows over the top of the aileron to add lifting force, which helps lift the entire wing and also reduces the ultimate required deflection angle of the aileron. Fowler flaps drop down from the trailing edge of the wing but also slide back, too. (Think jet airliner on takeoff and landing.) This little trick increases the effective chord—or leading-to-trailing-edge distance—of the wing, creates an air gap and increases camber, which transform the inner portion of SuperStol’s wing into a larger lifting surface. Leading edge slats, like Fowler flaps, also increase the chord and camber of the wing. Some airplanes, like the Zenith CH750, have fixed L.E. slats. SuperStol’s automatically deploy in and out, pulled forward by the increased angle of attack of the relative wind, to create a gap between themselves and the main wing. The slat develops some lift on its own as air flows around it and the air continues on, some over the wing, which stays attached to the upper surface at higher angles of attack than normal. Altogether, slats and Fowler flaps deliver a larger wing surface that keeps flying at higher angles of attack and slower speeds for very short field landings and takeoffs—the prime directive for all STOL airplanes—yet they can retract to reduce drag at cruise speeds.

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SuperStol
Price As Flown:	S-LSA: To Be Determined (TBD) Kit: $36,600 minus engine
Engine:	Rotax 912ULS (100 hp) or Jabiru 3300/UL (120 hp)
Wingspan (ft.):	30
Propeller:	3-blade ELPROP, ground-adjustable, carbon composite
Basic Empty Weight (lbs.):	780-835 (varies with equipment)
Useful Load (lbs.):	550-481 (varies with equipment)
Fuel Capacity (gals.):	27 (wing tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight (lbs.):	1320 (1500 as EAB kit)
Ultimate Load Factor (G):	+4/-2 (clean)
PERFORMANCE
Note:	Performance figures were still in the process of being finalized by flight testing as we went to press. Contact Just Aircraft for further information.
Source: Just Aircraft

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