I am thinking about owning a 7 or 8 series airplane but not sure what will fit best. having flown a 79 8kcab I was happy with roll rate and performance. I do not know how much aerobatics I will fly but I would like to think that I would fly some. My question is would a Citabria 150hp be enough of a aerobatic plane to scratch the itch!! also I weigh 200 and my instructor woould be close to that.
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ROLL RATE
- Thread starter DPOWERS
- Start date
Just my opinion, but I own a '76 8KCAB 150 hp/CS so take it for what it's worth:
At 200 lbs for you and your instructor you will find that the CG will most likely be out of range or close to it. Don't forget to tack on 13 lbs + for each the chutes. Total all that together and you will find in the Decathlon with a 1800 lb gross you won't have much left for fuel. About 50 lbs. Not a lot of fuel left when you deduct half that (4 gal.) as unuseable.
Aerobatics in a Decathlon I know about. The Citabria I don't, so I won't comment on that. Get the specs for the Citabria and see if it will work for you. If you want to talk in detail about the Decathlon by phone, post a reply and I'll tell you how we can get in touch.
Rich
At 200 lbs for you and your instructor you will find that the CG will most likely be out of range or close to it. Don't forget to tack on 13 lbs + for each the chutes. Total all that together and you will find in the Decathlon with a 1800 lb gross you won't have much left for fuel. About 50 lbs. Not a lot of fuel left when you deduct half that (4 gal.) as unuseable.
Aerobatics in a Decathlon I know about. The Citabria I don't, so I won't comment on that. Get the specs for the Citabria and see if it will work for you. If you want to talk in detail about the Decathlon by phone, post a reply and I'll tell you how we can get in touch.
Rich
I am not sure if I'm comfortable being close to gross with the instructor on board not knowing cg limits, I was including the chutes in that 200 weight so that should give me about 14 gal of fuel if I watch how the plane is equiped, Any info on aerobatics would be great. or on available airplanes.
my number 308-991-3641
email dpowers@rcom-ne.com
my number 308-991-3641
email dpowers@rcom-ne.com
I own a Super Decathlon 8kcab. I weigh 240 lbs (fatty) and can fly front or back and cannot be out of c of g rearward even with a ten stone weakling up front. But watch your Forward limit, ie full fuel and no passenger. The plane likes the c og g out back! New retro mods allow an auw increase to 1950 lbs and limits of +3.8/-1.52. Enough for most people. The limitation is not on the structure but the U/C compression on landing hence the mod only being longer U/C legs. Greatest plane on planet. Andy freeman.UK
Blue Thunder
New member
http://www.aerobaticcompany.com provides instruction in a '79 Super Decathlon with experience in Citabrias, and Tim Brill would probably be happy to provide his two cents worth. His Super Decathlon 180 hp, CS prop, operates at a field elevation of around 5600' and usable load of ~400 lbs., which isn't much when you plan for a cross-country trip fuel load. It is a great craft for Emergency Maneuver Training and an intro to basic aerobatics. Much of the discussion should concern your density altitude, and gross weight. Our field elevation is 15' MSL (yes, it floods at times) but on a hot summer day density altitude can be 3000' or better. One local pilot flew his PA18-90 Super Cub to 8000' and reported that it took a few hours to get there. Not much farther to join Icarus...?