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| STANDARD DATA: Seats 2. Gross wt. 1,800. Empty wt. 1,275. Fuel capacity 40. Engine 150-hp Lycoming. PERFORMANCE: Top mph 145. Cruise mph 135. Stall mph 53. Initial climb rate 1,025. Range 550. Ceiling 16,000. Takeoff distance (50′) 650. Landing distance (50′) 755. |
Following the acquisition of the Champion Aircraft Corp. in September 1970, Bellanca Aircraft continued the production of the Citabria. The fully aerobatic Citabria, model 8KCAB, is now named the Decathlon. Designed for loads of +6G and -5G, it can be flown in inverted flight for periods up to four minutes without loss of oil or oil pressure. Generally similar in all respects to the 150-hp Model 7 Citabria, the high-wing aerobat was, for a time, the only unlimited acrobatic competition aircraft produced in the United States. Although maximum speed is limited to 138 mph, a retrofit of the windshield will increase top speed. Some claim that with the Decathlon’s standard top speed, it could not achieve the necessary vertical speed to complete the AC or AAC compulsory unlimited sequence, which requires flying off the top of the vertical snaps and vertical rolls. When Bellanca Aircraft Corp. declared bankruptcy in 1980, production of the Decathlon ceased.
