American Champion Citabria

Citabria above Palo Alto airfield

The Citabria is a general aviation aircraft that has been produced over a period of more than 40 years in the United States. It was first produced in 1964 by the now-defunct Champion Aircraft Corporation, and was a derivative of the Aeronca 7AC Champion trainer aircraft which first flew in 1944. On the demise of Champion, the design was acquired by Bellanca, which produced it from around 1970 until 1988, but sold the design to the then newly formed American Champion company, which recommenced production of new aircraft in 1990.

The Citabria is a high-wing monoplane of conventional landing gear design with an unusual square fin. Most examples produced have elaborate wheelguards (though the example pictured does not). Though the Citabria's airframe is stressed (+5g,-2g) for basic aerobatics ("Citabria" is "Airbatic" backwards), the aircraft's abilities are limited due to high stick forces, a highly cambered aerofoil section, and no inverted fuel delivery system. The Citabria is mainly used for training and private flying.

A 2005 Citabria 7GCBC above

As of 2005, three versions are in production:

• 7ECA Aurora
• 7GCAA Adventure
• 7GCBC Explorer

The 7ECA version is equipped with a 115 horsepower engine, fixed pitch propeller and has no flaps.

The 7GCAA is identical to the 7ECA except it has a 160 horsepower engine. The larger horsepower engine adds a small increase to the cruise speed but adds significantly to the rate-of-climb or vertical speed. This helps a lot when climbing back to altitude after an aerobatic manuver.

The 7GCBC has the 160 horsepower engine plus flaps. Flaps are control surfaces that can be extended from the trailing edge of the wing to increase aerodynamic drag and increase "lift." During landing flaps are used to increase the rate of descent without increasing airspeed.

Several other models also exist like the Decathlon that has symmetrical wings, constant speed propeller plus inverted fuel and oil systems for competition aerobatics... or the Scout series with 180 horsepower, higher gross weight for bush pilot type flying.

Specifications

Data from "Donald, David". The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Prospero Books. 1997. pp. pg 118. ISBN 1-85605-375-X. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

General characteristics

• Capacity: 2

Performance

External links

• Gallery of enthusiasts' photographs