American Champion Citabria
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). It is technically recognised as suitable for use in aerobatics ("Citabria" is "Airbatic" backwards), but its aerobatic capacity is limited and it is mainly used for training and private flying.
As of 2005, three versions are in production:
All have fixed pitch propellers. The Aurora is fitted with a 118 horse-power (88 kW) engine, the Adventure and Explorer with a 160 horse power (119 kW) unit. Gross weight is listed as 1750 lb (795 kg) for the Aurora and Adventure, 1800 lb (817 kg) for the Explorer.
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