Piper PA-11 Cub Special

The engine options are not equally free, and the certificate says why. Two of them narrow the airplane's centre-of-gravity envelope substantially:

C. G. Range (+12.9) to (+22.0) or (+12.9) to (+20.0) when Item 311D(4) or 311D(5) is installed. Empty Weight C. G. Range (+13.8) to (+18.3) or (+13.8) to (+15.5) when Item 311D(4) or 311D(5) is installed.

Fitting the C-85 or the C-90 takes the empty-weight CG band from 4.5 inches to 1.7 inches. That is a real ownership consequence of the most popular upgrade, and it means a heavily equipped 90 hp Cub Special can fall out of the simplified envelope in a way a 65 hp one will not.

The C-90 also carries mandatory hardware, which the certificate spells out: a Bendix-Stromberg carburetor, Continental Part No. 530726, and engine cooling baffles per Piper Dwg. 11258 Change E. A "90 horse Cub Special" missing either is not conforming, and that is a pre-buy question with a paper answer.

The C-85 installation requires the rear cockpit to be placarded "Solo flying from front seat only", because the fuel valve cannot be reached from the back — so on a C-85 airplane the either-seat solo advantage over the J-3 disappears.

Production numbers. Aerofiles gives 1,428 built. The previous version of this page said 1,541 civilian plus 105 military; neither figure is in any source read in this pass and both are removed rather than repeated.

Read the warning above first. Everything in this section that carries a number is a compendium's figure.

Aerofiles gives the PA-11 a maximum speed of 100 mph, a cruise of 87 mph and a stall of 35 mph, with 325 statute miles of range — 76 knots of cruise, 282 nautical miles, and a 30-knot stall. Those are the numbers in the frontmatter.

They are for the 65 hp airplane, and that matters. Aerofiles names the engine as a 65 hp Continental in the same line, so the 87 mph cruise is not a C-90 figure. A C-90 Cub Special will be faster and climb far better, and this catalogue stores no figure for one because no source publishes one.

Compared with the J-3 Cub on the same certificate, the PA-11 at the same 65 horsepower is about 15 knots faster in cruise and carries 5 more gallons, and those two together roughly double its practical range: 282 nm against the J-3's 130. That is the single most important practical difference between the two airplanes and it is the reason to want one. Where the J-3 is a local airplane, the PA-11 will make a genuine 200-nautical-mile leg.

The trade is useful load. 490 lb against the J-3's 540, on the same 1,220 lb gross weight, because the cowling, the wing tank and the heavier structure cost about 50 lb of empty weight. With two 180 lb adults and full fuel the PA-11 has 8 lb left. See the payload section, which does not flatter it.

No climb rate, ceiling, fuel burn or runway distance is published anywhere for this airplane. The short-field ability is real — it is a Cub — and this catalogue will not put a number on it that no document supports.

490 lb of useful load, and the certificate's own 20 lb baggage limit. The PA-11 carries 50 lb less than a J-3 on the same gross weight, and 5 more gallons of fuel to put in it.

Scenario 1: Solo, full fuel

The configuration the airplane is really for. Full fuel, one pilot, the full baggage allowance and 168 lb spare — and 282 nm of still-air range, which is a genuine cross-country leg.

Scenario 2: Two occupants, full fuel

Two 190 lb adults and full fuel is a legal airplane with eight pounds to spare, and no baggage at all. Two 200 lb adults exceeds gross before anything goes in the back. This is the number that separates the PA-11 from the J-3 in the wrong direction, and the reason a serious two-up airplane in this family is the PA-12.

Scenario 3: Two occupants, reduced fuel

Two 200 lb adults means leaving six gallons behind, and even then the airplane is within four pounds of gross. The PA-11's extra range only exists when it is flown light.

PA-11 against J-3: what you actually trade

Fifty pounds of payload buys a hundred and fifty nautical miles. That is the whole trade, and which way it falls depends entirely on whether you fly alone.

Flight Training (6/10): An excellent tailwheel trainer that improves on the J-3 by allowing solo from the front seat, which the certificate grants explicitly and which gives a student far better forward visibility on landing. Docked points because most PA-11s have no electrical system and no radio, which limits training to uncontrolled VFR fields — and because a C-85 airplane loses the front-seat-solo advantage to a placard.

Backcountry (7/10): A step above the J-3 thanks to the wing tank and the readily available 85 and 90 hp options. Solo with camping gear is very practical; two occupants plus gear is not, on 490 lb. Accesses the same strips as a J-3 with better margins, and is still well short of a PA-12 or a PA-18.

Business Travel (1/10): Usually no electrical system, no radios, two tandem seats and 76 knots.

Aerobatics (1/10): Not approved. A-691 grants Section VI no aerobatic category.

Cross-Country (3/10): 282 nm of still-air range at 76 knots is genuinely better than a J-3 and genuinely worse than almost anything else. With a radio and a handheld GPS it will do a 200 nm leg comfortably; nothing about it is transportation.

Cargo Hauling (1/10): 20 lb of baggage at station +55, per the certificate.

Local Fun (9/10): Nearly as joyful as the J-3, with better legs. One point docked against the J-3 purely because the PA-11 lacks the cultural cachet, not because the flying is worse.

Surveying (2/10): Slow is useful; no systems and no panel space are not.

The PA-11's situation mirrors the J-3 Cub almost exactly, with one genuine difference: the wing tank freed up the space where the J-3's fuselage tank sits, so there is somewhere to put a panel.

Purist ($0): Hand-prop, handheld radio, iPad. How most PA-11s fly, and perfectly adequate at uncontrolled fields.

Minimal electrical ($2,000-$5,000): A light battery or alternator system, one COM and a wingtip ADS-B Out device. Opens towered fields and Mode C veils.

Panel-mounted ($5,000-$12,000): COM, ADS-B Out transponder, panel GPS. Less common than on a Super Cub and feasible.

Weight is the constraint, and it is tighter here than on a J-3: 490 lb of useful load against the J-3's 540. Check the CG envelope as well as the weight — on a C-85 or C-90 airplane the empty-weight CG band is only 1.7 inches wide, and avionics go behind the panel, which is forward.

The engine options above are certificate items, not STCs. Beyond those, the PA-11 shares most of the J-3's aftermarket:

No STC number is quoted anywhere on this page, because no source read in this pass gives one. The previous version named specific numbers; they are removed.

PA-11 to PA-18 conversion — a paperwork warning

Some PA-11s have been rebuilt with Super Cub wings, gear and engine mounts to approximate PA-18 performance. Many of those modifications are individually approved, but the airplane remains a PA-11 on its data plate and on A-691 Section VI, with A-691's limits. Verify that every modification has a 337 on file and that the aircraft's weight, CG and airspeed limits are still those of the certificate it flies under. A heavily modified PA-11 can be a capable airplane; unclear paperwork is an airworthiness and a resale problem.

Parts Availability -- Good

The PA-11 shares its certificate, most of its structure and most of its parts with the J-3 Cub, which AOPA describes as "well supported by Univair and The Wag-Aero Group, which manufacture and vend parts for just about the entire airplane". Rated good rather than excellent because the PA-11-specific items — the cowling, the forward fuselage, the wing tank, the lift struts, the elevator bungee — are 1,428 airframes deep rather than 14,125.

Mechanic Familiarity -- Common

Any A&P with fabric experience. Steel tube, fabric, bungee gear, a small Continental with magneto ignition, and usually no electrical system.

Annual Cost Range

The fuel line is deliberately blank. No source publishes a fuel burn for the PA-11 and this page will not invent one; a J-3's 5 gph is the wrong airplane's number. An owner's own logs are the only honest answer.

No TBO is stored. Continental never published one for the A-65 and A-691 states none. Budd Davisson's "assumed at about 1,200-1,400 hours" is the only figure anywhere and he labels it an assumption.

Expensive Maintenance Items

• Fabric re-cover, every 15-25 years depending on covering and hangarage.
• Engine overhaul, $16,000 for an A-65 per the house reference; more for a C-85 or C-90, which are getting harder to overhaul at all.
• Wing lift struts, if AD 2015-08-04 cannot be answered by inspection.
• Rudder replacement, AD 2025-02-11: $3,000 on the FAA's estimate.

The market for this airplane is one airplane deep.

On 7 September 2026, AeroGurus listed no PA-11 for sale anywhere — its page reads "No Piper PA-11 Cub Special currently listed for sale" — and Controller had exactly one, a 1947 PIPER CUB SPECIAL at $75,000. That single asking price, less the standing 10 percent allowance, is where the $67,500 typical comes from, and a sample of one is not a market.

The price_min_usd of $40,000 and price_max_usd of $110,000 are AeroGurus' reference band rather than observed listings, and they should be read with suspicion: the identical band, to the dollar, appears on that site's PA-14 Family Cruiser page — a four-seat airplane with a different engine and a sixth of the production run. Two different models sharing a reference price exactly looks like a family default, not a valuation.

No Vref or Aircraft Bluebook value is obtainable; both sell values by subscription. This is one of the pages a subscription would most improve.

Key value drivers

• Which engine, and whether its paperwork is complete. An Item 311D(5) C-90 with its carburetor and baffles documented is worth substantially more than an A-65 airplane, and substantially more than a C-90 airplane whose 337s are vague.
• Fabric condition, as on every airplane in this family.
• Metal spars over wood.
• Sealed struts, which answer AD 2015-08-04.
• AD 2025-02-11 compliance. A rudder already fitted with a 4130N post is $3,000 of work already done, and almost nobody has done it yet.
• Originality against Super Cub-ification. A PA-11 rebuilt with PA-18 parts is a different proposition from an original one, and the market treats them differently in both directions.

Airworthiness Directives

Every number below comes from the FAA's own AD index (adlistpipercubs). The page's previous "AD 47-30-02" does not exist and has been removed.

AD 2025-02-11 — rudder posts — is the live one, and it is new. Effective 20 March 2025, docket FAA-2023-1893. PA-11 and PA-11S are both named in its applicability table, and it requires replacing any rudder whose post is not 4130N low-alloy steel. The FAA's cost estimate is $3,000 per airplane. A 65 hp PA-11 with no rudder-post beacon is Category IV, the longest compliance time in the rule: ten years, so 20 March 2035.

Two things about that are specific to this airplane. The type clubs asked the FAA to remove the J-3 and PA-11 from the rule outright, arguing they use a different rudder assembly and have never suffered a failure. The FAA agreed about the assembly and refused anyway — "the part number of the rudder post itself is the same for both rudder assemblies" — but created Category IV in response, and said so explicitly: the J-3 and PA-11 "would fall into this category provided they do not have a post mounted beacon light and do not have an engine installed with more than 100 hp."

The 100 hp Lycoming O-235-C option sits exactly on that line. An Item 311D(6) PA-11 is at 100 hp, which the rule counts as Category IV ("100 hp or below"). Anything above it is not, and a rudder-post beacon moves the airplane to Category II regardless of engine — a three-year clock instead of a ten-year one.

AD 2015-08-04 — "Wings" — is the current wing lift strut AD. Effective 3 June 2015, docket FAA-2014-1083. PA-11 and PA-11S are in its model list. It supersedes 99-01-05 R1, which superseded 99-01-05, which superseded 93-10-06, "Corroded Wing Lift Struts or Cracked Forks" — the number most older sources still quote. Sealed replacement struts are the usual terminating answer.

AD 85-06-04 — "Fuel Tank" — effective 4 May 1985, and it names the PA-11. Rainwater entering the tank through the wire fuel gauge; compliant airplanes have drains at the low point of each tank that were not factory equipment.

AD 48-03-03 — "Header Tank Installation" — names the PA-11 and nothing else in the FAA's index. It is the only AD in this whole family that is unique to the Cub Special, which fits: the fuel system is the airplane's principal departure from the J-3.

Others naming the PA-11 by subject: 78-10-03 Fuel Venting, 68-05-01 Exhaust Mufflers, 47-50-06 Shock Strut Cracks, 50-05-01 Nicopress Sleeve Rework.

This is not a compliance list, and engine ADs are not included — those are issued against the Continental type certificate and were not searched here.

Common Problems and Pre-Buy Concerns

Engine paperwork is the PA-11-specific one. A-691 Item 311D makes six different engines eligible, several with mandatory hardware and two of them landplane-only, and most surviving PA-11s have been re-engined at some point. Check that the installed engine is an Item 311D entry, that the C-90's Bendix-Stromberg carburetor P/N 530726 and Dwg. 11258 Change E baffles are present if it is a C-90, that the "Solo flying from front seat only" placard is present if it is a C-85, and that the CG envelope on the weight-and-balance sheet is the narrowed one where the certificate requires it.

The elevator bungee, Piper Dwg. 80352. The certificate makes it an airworthiness item, not an option — "must be installed in order that the aircraft conform to the pertinent flight requirements". Confirm it is there.

Fabric condition. Punch-test wings, fuselage and control surfaces. A re-cover is the most expensive thing that happens to this airplane.

Fuselage tube corrosion, particularly the lower longerons at the tail post where water collects. Same steel-tube structure as the J-3 and the same failure mode.

Wood against metal spars. Same consideration as the J-3: wood spars need inspection for moisture, delamination and dark or grey flaking varnish; metal spars need corrosion checks on the top of the lower caps.

The wing tank. Unlike the J-3's fuselage tank, the PA-11's fuel sits in the wing at +24, and a 78-year-old wing tank is worth a leak and seam inspection in its own right.

Landing gear bungees. Periodic replacement; worn bungees make hard landings harder and pass the load into the airframe.

Low hull values, low speeds and fixed gear keep premiums modest; the tailwheel and hand-propping are the underwriting concerns. The bands below are the April 2026 generated pass, from reference/insurance-costs.md's tailwheel fixed-gear class. They are not quotes for this type and were not re-sourced in this pass.

Tailwheel time is the primary driver: 25+ hours is a typical minimum and 100+ gets the best rates. Some carriers restrict who may hand-prop.

See GA Insurance Underwriting for context.