I've wanted a taildragger for a while now and have recently begun a search for a nice Citabria. I know there are a few BTers that are Citabria owners and would appreciate any advice on what to look for when buying one. (My home field is at 5,000 feet so I know I need one with the 150 hp engine.)

Thanks!

What era are you looking at? What's your budget?

I'd like find something for around $50K if possible. Not sure what era that buys me though.

Love my Citabria!

You can get a Citabria anywhere from $30k-$250k (if you buy new). I have a 2005 High Country Edition 7GCBC which is a 180hp, 1950 max gross weight airplane, and it's the perfect plane for me.

The standard 160hp Citabria has a 1800lbs max gross weight (or 1750) and that would have posed a problem for me. High Country Explorers are hard to find on the market and command a premium, but I believe they are the best of the Citabria series.

Like most airplane searches, you need to evaluate what you want to do. Are aerobatics really important to you? Frankly, the Citabria isn't great for acro... It loops and spins fine but doesn't roll worth a damn. If you want an acro bird, a Decathalon may be a better choice.

Also, if hard core backcountry is what you're looking for, a Scout or Husky may be better.

In any case, get the cargo door (you can add it later as an STC if you want). Makes loading/unloading the airplane much easier.

For me, the large engined / large (8.50) wheeled Citabria fit my needs well. Light acro and moderate grass field operations. I think of my Citabria as a jeep with wings.

Note that you can get some Citabrias to be IFR certified. Rare, but possible. The heated pitot seems to be the limiting factor for many of the planes.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Robert

Not sure if this one has a wood spar….but make sure it’s sound with no patches.

50 k Citabria means wood wings, you have to be darn certain that they pass the AD inspection. Also many did not come with oil filters.

Our club suffered wood wing problem, was not discovered during pre buy we chose a high end restoration shop at nearby airport that had never worked on the plane according to the logs. They are specializing in wood and antique airplanes seemed ideal to do our prebuy and gave specific instructions as to what we wanted done. They wrote a nice report but obviously didn’t do any of the work. After we fly it nearly a year at next annual we discovered worn spars and missing inspection plates. After cutting the required holes to inspect mouse nests and rib nails backed out.

Wood wings to factory metal are a 30k expense FYI.

I would have another wood one, but I’d inspect it myself. Metal ones are worth the extra and you’ll get it all back at resale I promise. No buyer will ever be able to cast doubt on your factory metal wing airplane retrofitted or original metal wings the way they can on wood ones.


Citabria are very sensitive to weight. Our 7GCBC was excellent short field plane solo. Impressively so. Flaps help you keep a nice attitude for visibility during landing. No flap airplane fly higher angle of attack. I liked flaps for wheel landings. 8.50s on ours was fun in the grass.

Sadly it was wrecked by a member who stalled in from 20 feet on a go around from a unstable landing. What a great airplane it was we all miss it terribly.

Budd Davisson had a good review that included some maintenance items to watch out for:
http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepCitabria.html

Thanks for all the help! I’d be happy to spend more… $75K? - just need to understand what is needed. I see some late 70’s Decathlon’s in that range. Something to consider?

What is it that you want to do with your taildragger? Aerobatics? Off-field? Or are you going to be operating at mostly airports with decent sized runways? Some of those decisions will factor into what model you want.

As for metal vs. wood wings... I know precious little first hand, but have been daydreaming about owning a Citabria for a long time and it's has often been my procrastination reading. Knowledgeable and experienced fans of the airframe generally think the wood wings are just fine. New people to the model are intimidated by the AD and mostly seem to want metal wings. Maybe the wood wings are fine, but I bet it's a heck of a lot easier to sell one with metal wings.

There's a pretty active Citabria group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/718166378262033). When this discussion came up once, an owner posted his story that his spars passed inspection, but when they took the fabric off they found the spars were badly cracked. You're looking for hairline cracks in a dark hole with a flashlight and a mirror. It doesn't surprise me that this method does not work 100% of the time. And according to the Bellanca Champion club's info, the fabric can sometimes pull those cracks tight so they're hard to detect. (https://www.bellanca-championclub.com/Spar2.html)

If you want to do gentleman aerobatics: decathlon

If you want a fun taildragger to putt around in, love the grass, really want to do some stick and rudder flying, etc; citabria

I owned a 68 7GCAA before I sold it and got my bonanza. I got it because they really are jack of many things, master of none. A fixed prop and no inverted systems does no make a happy plane when doing aerobatics. I even had to carry some baggage weight to get the cg so I could keep it in a spin.

I miss mine because I flew it about every day I could, weather permitting. I’m actually looking at getting another one just for fun flying.

I also second the luggage door. There is a company that offers a non welded option vs the factory welded one. Not sure if the factory can retrofit one and not have to do some major fabric work.

You may also run into heel brakes and for my experience, I actually preferred them to toe brakes, at least for a taildragger.

I have owned a Citabria for the last 20 years. Great fun flyer. Loops, rolls and spins just fine but not the plane if acro is your main motivation to purchase. One thing to keep in mind that the 150/160 hp planes with other than factory metal spar wings have a limited useful load. Something like 470 lbs. The 150/160 hp planes with factory wings have useful loads around 550 lbs. Still not great. And of course there are plenty of folks who will say don’t worry about flying over gross.... PM me if you want to around a call to talk Citabrias.

My quick two cents worth after restoring two 7ECA's (one converted to a 7GCAA).

-Walk along (or use a creeper) the lower longerons from the step area to the tailwheel. If there is any bubbling in the fabric, expect a project.
-Look at the wood stringers along the turtle deck between the vertical stab and the wing. If there are any wrinkles in it, expect a project. The more bows you see between the fuselage formers, the closer you are to a project. The fabric shrinks a little as it gets older and eventually can break the mushroom shaped wood stringers.
-Pull the cover on the aft baggage compartment. Climb as close as you can to inlet with a bright flashlight and look at the steel tubing. It's the low spot in the fuselage and any water will sit there and cause rust.
-While you are there, look at the wood formers and stringers.
-Pull multiple wing inspection covers and it should look clean in the wings. Look at the nails and see if any are pulled/pulling out. If they are, it's a project to repair.
-Look close at each attach point for the struts for damage/cracks. This is especially important if the aircraft has drug a wing.
-Pull the wing root covers and look at the butt end of the wood spars. If you see any splits, you have a project.
-Look for cracks in the fabric. If you see cracks, you have a project.
-Stand back and see if the airplane sits straight. The oleo strut birds with a hard landing can have the metal tubes between the wheel area and center fuselage bend causing it to sit crooked. They can be heated and bent back, it's just labor and paint.

That's all I can think of at the moment...

Jason - that is very helpful info. Thanks!

A buddy has a wood wing Citabria project. If you would like any photos of bare wings and fuselage, just ask …