Citabria questions

J

JC

New member
Do any of you have opinions on a Citabria as a first plane?

Eventually I'd like to have a taildragger as my first plane. At first I was thinking perhaps a PA-18 Super Cub or PA-12 Super Cruiser would be ideal. However, I'm thinking perhaps a Citabria 7ECA or 7KCAB might be more practical/affordable while still being a fun plane to have.

How might they compare to a cub? Similarities? Differences?

Would insurance be in the normal range or possibly more?

Will it handle off runway landings and have a pretty good STOL ability? Can floats be put on them?

What might be some of the particular differences between the various Citabria version? Any ADs to looks out for?

Thanks for any insight.
 
The Citabria is great first airplane. I bought mine 6 years and 500 hours ago and have never regretted it. I had at the time about 300 hours total time and about 20 hrs tailwheel. It is a well mannered taildragger but it does take some good instruction and practice.

Here the basic Citabria models. The variation is mostly in HP, and flaps/no flaps. The 7KCAB is a better setup for acro since the others lack inverted fuel and oil systems so they are limited to positive Gs only. Unless you don’t mind the when the engine quits and lots of oil runs out of the breather tube. I believe that they are all +5 -2 G but am not sure about the 7KCAB

7EC 115 HP no flaps
7GCAA 150/160 HP no flaps
7KCAB 150 HP, fuel injected inverted fuel oil no flaps
7GCBC 150/160 HP flaps

My 160 HP 7GCAA cruises at ~115 MPH down low and a little faster up high. The 115 HP aircraft are a bit slower.

What ever you do, don’t ask which one is best because as you can imagine every one as a favorite!

Insurance is pretty typical and the cost will mostly depend on your total time and tailwheel time. I pay ~ 1500/year for a million dollar policy and 80K hull

The newer aircraft (~1990 onward) have a metal wing spare and higher gross wts. There is a wing spare AD on the older aircraft with wood wings. If you search you will find plenty of info about this AD on this site.

Like most high wing tail draggers they love the grass and with standard tires will operate just fine from grass runways (even with wheel pants). There are plenty of options for larger tires etc if you wish to land on unprepared fields. The runway performance is fine but will depend on lots of factors like 160 vs 115 HP, temp, elevation and gross wt. I have no trouble getting in and out of any of the grass runways around me in the summer with two on board with my GCAA.

The American Champion Website has the specifications for new airplanes but much of the info applies to older aircraft as well, except for the gross wts as mentioned above.
http://www.amerchampionaircraft.com/newac/newmain.htm
 
Citabria very acceptable as a first aeroplane, not complex, quite capable, good alrounder with few vices at all.

Don't worry about the earlier wood spar ones - just check very carefully for groundloops or any impact on the wing - they then usually require spar work eventually.

Great visibility and comfort, much better than the P*per - my Bro and I are always arguing, he has a PA12, I have a 7GCBC. The thing is, he is borrowing mine while his Cub gets recovered and is actually beginning to prefer the Citabria................... Result !

I am a serial offender, 2 Champs, 2 Citabrias, about to look for my 3rd Champ as a project once our RV7 is finished next year.

The 7ECA and GCBC are excellent economical aeroplanes, i would always recommend the 150 hp engine as for a gallon or two more, you get more flexibility if you visit shorter strips - which you will do when you get one.

Hard, grass or water - all excellent performances - I operate mine from 1300' feet of sloping grass at 500' elevation. No problems 2 up even at 25 plus centigrade.

Beware, once you have flown one, you will want one - enjoy !
 
My wife and I bought a 7KCAB to learn in about 9 months ago. I've done almost all of my training in the 7KCAB.

Just before I soloed I took a lesson with a different instructor who's been on the field forever and he lost his medical so he's now in a Champ. I was having a tough time learning wheel landings in the Citabria and it definately took some getting used to. For wheel landings, the Champ was much easier with its suspension system. The spring steel landing gear of the Citabria is much less forgiving. Having said that though, now that've I gotten the hang of wheel landings in the Citabria, I can't complain. I try to make every landing a wheel landing since I think its a little easier on the airframe, plus when you get a real greaser it feels sooooo good.

I'm at 85 or so hours, and about to take my check-ride. I'm guessing learning to fly in a tailwheel easily added 15-20 hours in learning time - mostly learning 3 point, wheel and cross wind landing. I also think it has made me a much better pilot - you learn to use the rudders as rudders, not just footrests. We're also based out of Oakland, CA, so there's also the learning curve of tons of radio communication, helicopters, blimps, and biz jets in the pattern, as well as a busy airport environment. So, some of my added hours are probably a result of some of just being in a busy situation.

Maintainence has been easy. A couple of oil changes. Easy on the gas. I need to change the brake pads this weekend, but otherwise its been very fairly maintence free. The starter went out and I had to have a mechanic replace that but no real biggie.

Don't expect a blazing fast x-country machine, realistically I've planned my x-country trips at 110 mph at about 4,500-5,500' and 2,400 RPM and that seems to be about right.

Overall, I'd say more fun than a barrel of monkeys. My instructor is a good friend, so we've been having a great time flying. My wife and I thought about a Cessna 150, but now that we have the Citabria, its fun to fly around and pretend to be a fighter and blast the little 150s. If I had to do it again, I may consider an RV4 or RV6, but I certainly have no regrets about the Citabria and its been a ton of fun.

Jon
 
JC,
I just posted this as a reply to another similar question: My wife and I purchased a very slightly used 2001 Super Decathlon just shy of one year ago. I got my SEL license having 90% of that instruction in our Super D. My wife has had 100% of her primary instruction in it and just recently soloed. We are both very pleased with the airplane and it has earned its way into our family. We have found the hard part to be finding and keeping a good, experienced instructor; competent in the back seat of our airplane. We have been fortunate to have found 2; but it has not been easy. I had to finish my training in a C-172 for the instrument training and checkride; and found it frustrating for its lack of responsiveness and general sloppy flying characteristics (hope I didn't offend anyone :( ) :?
 
The day a 172 is MORE responsive than an 8KCAB is when the insults come.... :p

Learning in a taildragger will statistically a MUCH safer pilot. Sort of like learning to drive stick shift. Obviously this is ground handling...
 
JC:

My 7 GCBC was/is my first plane and I love it. I took the bulk of my instruction in a tailwheel plane and the transition from the Taylorcraft to the Citabria was easy.

I have about 150 hrs in it now and it's a great plane for me. It takes autogas, burns fuel at an economically acceptable rate, and has good short field capability. Solid affordable plane, in my opinion.

Only word of caution is the AD on the wood wing spar. Make sure you get a good pre-buy on the wing spars if they're wood because it could be costly if you don't.

Joe.
 
JC

Big difference between the super cub and citabria as a "beginner" is the price. You can get a lot of tailwheel time in a Citabria without a bank loan.

I have been very pleased with my citabria and run it on 26" bush wheels and land gravel bars/beaches. For "rough" fields you really need 700' for the citabria to land safely with full load (and margin for error) on a reasonable river gravel bar and a cross wind. A professional bush pilot with a supercub will do the same job in an impressively shorter distance. Although, you have to commend a bush pilot with +10K hours - they are impressive.

Carefully consider what you intend to put in your citabria. A citabria is a wonderful "one person" off field performer. Supercubs are legendary for loading them past limits. Take a careful look at the weight and balance/CG ranges of the Citabria and plan to stick to those limits.

Hope you find this helpful.
 
Actually speaking structurally, the Citabria airframe is stronger than a Cub's. This corresponds to heavier empty weight, etc, but still.

Of course, I do not advocate going over limits on any airplane. :p
 
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