Baker flies AOPA’s Sweepstakes Super Cub
AOPA’s Sweepstakes Super Cub, now fitted with amphibious floats, proved to be the perfect perch for spotting fish, alligators, bald eagles, osprey, egrets, herons, and ibis near Cherry Pocket in central Florida.
“What a beautiful morning,” Baker said, noting that the “nice calm morning just makes you want to fly forever.”
Baker has thousands of hours flying Super Cubs, but the sweepstakes airplane is a standout. “I’ve flown a bunch of Super Cubs, and sometimes the riggings are OK and sometimes they are perfect,” he said. “And these are perfect, I mean perfect!”
The 1954 Super Cub was restored by Roger and Darin Meggers of Baker Air Service in Baker, Montana. The two are renowned for their Super Cub refurbishments, having won top awards for their restoration of Super Cub serial No. 1 at EAA AirVenture and Sentimental Journey. The FBO also restored Baker’s Super Cub nearly 20 years ago.
The Sweepstakes Super Cub will be delivered this summer on the Wipline 2100 amphibious floats, but it will also come with 26-inch Alaskan Bushwheel tundra tires and Wipline AirGlide hydraulic skis, making this one versatile prize for the lucky winner.
“You can use it in so many different places,” Baker said, “on the water, on the snow with the skis, which I used to do a lot, big tires all over the backcountry.”
The Super Cub’s panel also increases its versatility, making it easier to fly at night and in marginal conditions. Baker has often admitted he has “panel envy” of the sweepstakes airplane. Designed by Aerotronics, the panel features two Garmin G5 electronic flight instruments, a Garmin aera 660 portable GPS, Garmin GTR 225 com radio, Garmin GTX 345 transponder, PS Engineering PM3000A intercom, and J.P. Instruments EDM 900 all-in-one digital engine monitor.
“You don’t use the panel that much, but it sure is nice to have,” he said, noting the increased situational awareness and engine awareness the instruments provide. “Lightweight, better, more reliable equipment in it, but this airplane is all about heads out.” And who wouldn’t want to be heads out when flying low over the lakes of central Florida, in the Idaho backcountry, on in the Alaska Range?
“It’s going to be really fun for somebody,” Baker said of the Sweepstakes Super Cub. “I’m one of the lucky people to have one on the planet, but somebody who wins one is even luckier.”
Alyssa J. Cobb
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