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| 8KCAB Decathlon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Sports plane andaerobatictrainer |
| Manufacturer | American Champion Aircraft |
| Designer | |
| Number built | Over 6,000[1] |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 1972 |
TheAmerican Champion 8KCAB Decathlon andSuper Decathlon are two-seat fixedconventional gearlight airplanes designed forflight training and personal use and capable of sustainingaerobatic stresses between +6g and −5g. The Decathlon entered production in the United States in 1970 as a more powerful and stronger complement to theAmerican Champion Citabria line of aircraft.
The Decathlon was designed by theChampion Aircraft Corporation, and is a derivative of the 7-seriesCitabrias. While the Citabria designs remain successful, and the introduction of the 7KCAB variant of the Citabria had added limitedinverted flight capability, the Citabrias are not capable of "outside" maneuvers, those requiring significant negative-g loads. Pilots wanted an aircraft capable of more maneuvers, and Champion introduced the 8KCAB Decathlon in response to this demand.
The Decathlon entered production at Champion in 1972, immediately before the company was acquired byBellanca Aircraft Corporation, so only a handful were produced by Champion. Bellanca continued production of the Decathlon throughout the 1970s, moving to the Super Decathlon variant during 1976. Bellanca built over 600 of the 8KCAB design before production of the aircraft was interrupted when the company's assets were liquidated in 1981.
The Decathlon design passed through the hands of a number of companies through the 1980s, including aChampion Aircraft Company which was no relation to the Champion Aircraft of the 1960s, but no Decathlons were built in that period.American Champion Aircraft Corporation acquired the Decathlon design, along with the8GCBC Scout and the group of Citabria and Champ variants, in 1990, bringing the Super Decathlon version back into production that same year. It is still being produced.
The Decathlon traces its lineage back to theAeronca Champ, by way of the Citabria. Like the Citabria, the Decathlon features tandem seating and center-stick controls. Thefuselage and tail surfaces are constructed of welded metal tubing. The outer shape of the fuselage is created by a combination of woodenformers andlongerons, covered with fabric. The cross-section of the metal fuselage truss is triangular, a design feature which can be traced back to the earliestAeronca C-2 design of the late 1920s.
The strut-bracedwings of the Decathlon are, like the fuselage and tail surfaces, fabric covered, usingaluminum alloyribs. The wings of Champion and Bellanca Decathlons were built with woodenspars. American Champion has been using aluminum spars in the aircraft it has produced and has made the aluminum-spar wings available for retrofit installation on older aircraft. Compared to the Citabria's wingspan of 33.5 feet (10.2 m), the Decathlon's wingspan is shorter, at 32 feet (9.8 m). One of the major developments of the 8KCAB Decathlon over the 7KCAB Citabria is the Decathlon's wing, which employs a semi-symmetricalNACA 1412airfoil,[2] as opposed to the Citabria's flat-bottomed airfoil. This change gives the Decathlon better inverted flight and negative-g maneuver capabilities.
The landing gear of the Decathlon is in a conventional arrangement. The main gear legs of most Decathlons are made ofspring steel, though American Champion began to use aluminum gear legs in 2004.
Like the 7KCAB, the engine of the 8KCAB has afuel injection system, as opposed to acarburetor. To facilitate negative-g flight, the fuel system incorporates a 1.5 gallon header tank beneath the instrument panel, and the engine is fitted with aChristen Industries inverted oil system.
Champion and Bellanca built the Decathlon with severalLycoming IO-320 engine variants, all of 150 horsepower (110 kW), and with the choice of a fixed-pitch orconstant speedpropeller. The major improvement in Bellanca's introduction of the Super Decathlon was the change of engine to theLycoming AEIO-360-H1A or –H1B, both of 180 horsepower (130 kW), which was accompanied by a selection of constant speed propellers. The American Champion Super Decathlon uses the AEIO-360-H1B, along with a constant speed propeller.
Though the Decathlon went out of production within a decade of its introduction, this was not due to any fault in the design, but rather to the slump in general aviation in the United States at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Since its reintroduction, the Super Decathlon has sold steadily. Decathlons and Super Decathlons remain popular as aerobatic trainers, as beginning and intermediate aerobatic aircraft, and as personal aircraft.
Steve Fossett was flying a Bellanca-built Super Decathlon when he went missing on September 3, 2007.[3] He took off from an airstrip atWilliam Barron Hilton'sFlying-M Ranch, about 70 miles (110 km) southeast ofReno, Nevada. Remains of the plane were found 13 months later near the town ofMammoth Lakes, California, just south of the original search area.[4]
James May, a presenter onThe Grand Tour owned an 8KCAB Decathlon with the registration G-OCOK, in reference to his catch-phrase on the television seriesTop Gear.[5]
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Data from Manufacturer[7]
General characteristics
Performance
Related development
