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[Rickster51]

I have just purchased a 1965 champion Citabria sn 7ECA-363 im in cali

 

[Bruce]

Welcome to the club, things hear are like the rest of the world and a little slow.

 

[BB57]

I have just purchased a 1965 champion Citabria sn 7ECA-363 im in cali

The one for sale in Placerville?

It was on my short list, but a bit too far away for a pre-buy inspection and test flight.

We purchased a 7KCAB in SC instead.

 

[Rickster51]

The one for sale in Placerville?

It was on my short list, but a bit too far away for a pre-buy inspection and test flight.

We purchased a 7KCAB in SC instead.

Yes it was its a fine plane I just got my tail indorsment in it took a hr of training love the gear makes so so landing look good

 

[Goodyear]

Is that the “no bounce” gear? I have never gotten the feel for that style of gear, but once in the air they all fly great. We have a few Champs and Citabrias here in San Diego. Great flying weather most of the year around. Flew a 7gcaa today with a Stearman in the pattern. 12 landings in 24 minutes.

 

[BB57]

I used to rent an early 7GCBC with oleo gear. Full stall landings were fine, but I was never quite as good with wheel landings due to the lack of firmness when the mains contacted the runway. It made it harder to time the stick movement to keep it smoothly on the runway.

(edited for spelling)

 

[Rickster51]

I do not have a lot of tail wheel time but i love wheel landings they are the ez est for me in it. i keep landing tail first when trying full stall. the wing rocking is a bit to get used to and it is hard tell when the gear is on the ground when wheel landing but my back loves that.

 

[BB57]

Tail wheel first landings are not unusual, you just need to be sure you don't give back any of the aft stick once you've arrived so that the aircraft doesn't try to fly again as the AoA decreases when the mains settle on the runway with the tail wheel holding the tail up. Champs and Citabrias tend to be tail heavy and the wing's angle of attack when the aircraft is in a three point attitude is usually less than the critical AoA.

If you compare the Scout to a Citabria you'll notice taller gear and taller tires on the Scout. That partly reflects the intended operation off un prepared strips where greater clearance between prop and ground helps reduce damage to the propeller. However, the taller gear and tire also get the wing much closer to the critical angle of attack, which allows for a shorter ground roll on take-off as the higher AoA allows a lower lift off speed.

For those same reasons, it's common to find 8.0x6 tires and even 8.5x6 tires on Citabrias that are flown off of grass strips. You'll also see the occasional Citabria on 26" to 31" tundra tires if the pilot flies off of unprepared strips. It's not unheard of to also find a Citabria with the taller Scout main gear. In all of these cases, the taller gear and/or taller tires help get the wing closer to the critical AoA when the aircraft is in a three point attitude, which shortens take off roll and reduces to some degree the angle of a tail first full stall landing.

 

[Bob Turner]

It is good to practice wheel landings, and to get good at them. But I recommend 3/4 of all practice be full stall (Decathlon excluded).

Here's why: I have had students find smoother crowd-pleasing landings when touching down on mains at higher than necessary speeds. Then they literally forget how to do 3 point landings, and I have to give them a hard time.

One friend bought a Husky, then came to me to try to figure out why he used so much real estate landing the thing. He was taught only wheel landings out of a 60 mph approach. Husky drivers will smile at that - if you are one half knot above 55 on approach you are landing at the departure end. We were able to get Husky rollouts down to 250' past the threshold. He was routinely using well over a thousand feet.

 

[Rickster51]

my instructor wants me to practice 3 point not necessarily full stall landings as we normaly have a cross wind here he does not like draging the tail down the runway in cross winds