Model comparison

bookmaker

bookmaker

New member
Yesterday, the weather was beautiful here in the Florida Panhandle. My friend Chris, who owns a '74 (or '75) 7ECA flew up from Panama City. I met him in the air with my '65 7ECA and we flew around a little while and I tried to get some inflight videos with my GoPro. I didn't do very well with that. Still learning how to use it.

One thing I discovered however, was what happens when you get behind, and a little below another plane. Yep, wake turbulence. I was flying along and all of a sudden my plane started rolling to the right. Initial control input did not seem to correct the roll, then I realized where I was and slid out to the side. Although it was just a little movement, it is amazing what vortexes even small planes can produce.

When we landed, I let him fly front seat in my plane. He is an instructor and went with me when I bought the plane, but he had never flown it. After he made a couple of touch and gos, I made one landing from the rear seat. That's sure different. Then we swapped planes and I flew front seat in his. Although I had received my tailwheel sign off several years ago, I did not feel the training was adequate, so before I bought mine, I flew Chris' plane with his instruction. I had not flown it in almost two years.

Even these are both 7ECA, they are a lot different. Even allowing that he has an 0-235 and I have an 0-200, they feel totally different. Plus mine having oleo gear and his having spring steel gear makes landing totally different. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to fly his again. I wanted to be sure I wasn't getting bad habits with the "no bounce" gear that would biteme with spring gear. I did OK, not beautiful, but OK.

Anyway, just wanted to share a fun Sunday morning experience flying our favorite planes.

Dale
 
Besides landing and power delivery, can you qualify at all how they feel different? The '75 should have toebrakes instead of heel, I suppose there are lots on interior changes too. I've flown my '70 7GCBC, a '74 8KCAB and flown in a '94 7GCBC, but never an Oleo...
 
You are correct on the brakes, the 65 has heel and the 74 has toe. The brakes don't really bother me, I try not to use them much. But the rudder pedals are shaped and feel considerably different.

A general comparison:

Power Speed and Climb - The few extra HP of the O-235 make a considerable difference, especially in climb. Neither are cloud busters, but the 65 has a "leisurely" climb at best. I think the O-235 is 5-10 mph faster also.

Ailerons - The 74 has spades and is like having power steering compared to mine without. Chris also has a longer control stick, so that makes a different feel.

Elevator - The 65 does not have aerodynamic counter balances on the elevators as the later models do, however, in just flying around the pattern, I felt the elevator was actually heavier feeling on the later model as compared to mine. That said, the later model required a lot less elevator trim in landing phase. More on this later.

Rudder - I felt no appreciable difference.

Brakes - The 65 has BF Goodrich Disc brakes and the 74 has Clevelands. Both work fine. As stated above, I don't have a problem with the heel brakes, I just had to remember where they were. :) Also as noted above, the 65 just has the round bar rudder pedals and the later has the cast aluminum. Much different feel. My rudder pedals seemed to be more responsive on the ground, but that may be in rigging.

Landing gear - Oh My - are they different. The oleo "no bounce" gear have a really odd feel. You seem to land twice. Once when the tires touch and once when the oleos settle all the way down. In a video I took of Chris landing my plane you can see when the tail wheel and mains start their roll, then a second or two later you see the plane finish settling as the oleos bottom out. They are easy to roll on however, wheel or 3 point landing. As for the spring gear, you know how that works, you stick it or you bounce. :p

Interior - Basically, they are the same except I have the tall instrument panel. Also, my elevator trim is on the roof and his is on the side wall. The seat cushions are a little different, but basically the same shape. He also has the sky light and pop out left window, I have the solid roof and sliding left window.

The really odd difference in these two planes is the approach speeds. The '74 is happy with a 70 mph pattern and approach, and seems to drop off at about 60- 65 mph. My '65 will drop at 70 indicated. I fly my approach at 80 keeping 75 -80 indicated to the threshold, then start slowing depending on the type of landing. Below 75 it takes a lot of elevator in the flair. I need to use a lot of elevator trim. Chris confirmed this when he flew it. One of these days, I want to have the rigging checked on my plane - the airspeed indicator too.

Both planes are fun to fly, but they definitely have their own personalities. Chris and I refer to mine as the "Missing Link" between the Champ and the "real" Citabrias. :lol:

Dale
 
Cool. The spades you could add to yours I assume, good info all around. My '70 is the link between those two, since it has spring gear, but heel brakes. Of course, the 150hp makes them a completely different airplane off the runway and in the climb. Mine also doesn't have spades, and they were not standard on the '74 either.

Do you happen to know the weight differences between the two?
 
I think they are pretty close in weight. Both are gross at 1650. I suspect we were flying them at about 1500 to 1550 with partial fuel and two guys. I am, we'll say, no featherweight. :shock:

My '65 empty weight is about 1,040. I don't know his. I did a rough weight calc on mine and we would have been flying at about 1540 lbs.

Dale
 
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