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Old December 18th 07, 12:30 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
F. Baum
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Posts: 244
Default aerobatic kit planes

On Dec 17, 3:42 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote :







Dudley Henriques wrote:
Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
john smith wrote in
:
Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
"F. Baum" wrote in
news:02bef7c5-1ee1-437d-a908-b9b6dcfcfdd9
@b1g2000pra.googlegroups.com:
On Dec 16, 8:18 pm, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
I see a lot of Acrosport IIs on Barnstormers for not a lot of
money. A low performance bipe like that makes a good first
aerobatic trainer because it will be easy enough to do the
manuevers, yet difficult enough to do them well, and a well

built
one should be just about unbreakable.
Bertie- Hide quoted text -


How does it compare to the ACA Decathelon ?


Never flown an Acrosport, but I did display in a Decathlon years

ago.
the Decathlon is a good airplane, but for a beginner in aerobatics
it's probably not the best choice unless you're under a steady

hand
during the initial, scary bits. The Decathlon is relatively clean

an
the entry speeds for some
manuevers are fairly close to the redline. Biplanes are inherently
stronger ( unless the airplane is a piece of crap), but th

eDecathlon
will do in a pinch! It's nto a kitplane or anything like one, of
course! Even a good second hand Decathlon wil set you back over

fifty
grand. The Citabria even more so, but having said that they are

both
fine airplanes, providing their spars haven't been damaged.
Bertie, you forgot to mention if one's first Decathlon should be a
fixed-pitch or constant speed prop.


Don't really think it matters. It's not that big a deal to use one.
Are there any fixed pitch prop Decathlons? I don't think I've ever
seen one. Anyhow, with some decent instruction using a CS prop on an
aerobatic airplane is definitely a plus for a lot of reasons. Better
perfromance and better braking if you screw it up!
Bertie
I don't remember ever seeing a Decathlon with anything but a constant
speed Hartzel on it.


Come to think of it, I do recall seeing something about Decathlons

being
available with fixed pitch props but never ran across one. Ours had

the
Hartzel.


Yeah, Might have been an option that nearly everyone took up. I think
you could get a Citabria with one IIRC. They're making them again now
and they're slightly different spec to the old ones, I think

Bertie- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


IIRC in the early days there was a Decathlon with 150 HP fixed pitch
and then the Super Decathlon with C/S prop. There is a late 90s
Decathlon made by ACA that is for sale in my neiborhood for under 100.
I have checked and it will fit in the hangar with my other
plane............. Gonna make an offer after the holidays.