Hello citabria world!
After decades of being obsessed about Citabrias, and a few years of lurking on this site, I’m finally ready to take the plunge and buy my own. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge here, so I’m hoping to tap into it and get off on the right foot, and I welcome any advice. First off- any one know a shop or A&P knowledgeable about citabrias in the Pacific Northwest? Near Portland OR would be ideal, but I’m willing to travel a bit to get the right guy (or gal).
Next thing…. Looking for leads on a plane. I’m watching the usual places like TradeAPlane, controller, barnstormers. I’d like to spend under $150k, but could stretch a little for the right bird. I don’t really care where in the country it is, relocating it would be fun.
My mission profile: learning basic acro, maybe eventually doing a sportsman competition. Occasional trips with wife, but speed is not a big concern (for long trips, we take the airlines). And a few business trips where I can shoehorn the agenda into a place with an airport! Basic IFR capacity is important, because I live on the coast surrounded by mountains, so anything beyond local pattern work requires popping through a thin cloud layer 8 months out of the year.
After a lot of pondering, I think the best fit for me would be a 7GCBC due to the IFR requirement. If I want to get serious about acro later on, I realize I may be looking at upgrading to a super D after 5 or 10 years, but that is a concern for another day (whew!)
I have about 300 hrs, about 20 of it in citabria/decathlon, and a weekend of upset training and intro to aerobatics. Enough to know that I want to spend more time flying upside down, and that I’m going to need my own plane and more training if I’m going to get proficient with it.
Thoughts or suggestions on any of this?
After decades of being obsessed about Citabrias, and a few years of lurking on this site, I’m finally ready to take the plunge and buy my own. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge here, so I’m hoping to tap into it and get off on the right foot, and I welcome any advice. First off- any one know a shop or A&P knowledgeable about citabrias in the Pacific Northwest? Near Portland OR would be ideal, but I’m willing to travel a bit to get the right guy (or gal).
Next thing…. Looking for leads on a plane. I’m watching the usual places like TradeAPlane, controller, barnstormers. I’d like to spend under $150k, but could stretch a little for the right bird. I don’t really care where in the country it is, relocating it would be fun.
My mission profile: learning basic acro, maybe eventually doing a sportsman competition. Occasional trips with wife, but speed is not a big concern (for long trips, we take the airlines). And a few business trips where I can shoehorn the agenda into a place with an airport! Basic IFR capacity is important, because I live on the coast surrounded by mountains, so anything beyond local pattern work requires popping through a thin cloud layer 8 months out of the year. After a lot of pondering, I think the best fit for me would be a 7GCBC due to the IFR requirement. If I want to get serious about acro later on, I realize I may be looking at upgrading to a super D after 5 or 10 years, but that is a concern for another day (whew!)
I have about 300 hrs, about 20 of it in citabria/decathlon, and a weekend of upset training and intro to aerobatics. Enough to know that I want to spend more time flying upside down, and that I’m going to need my own plane and more training if I’m going to get proficient with it.
Thoughts or suggestions on any of this?
