American Champion Scout

Infobox Aircraft
name=8GCBC Scout


caption=Scout on (non-standard) tundra tires.
type=Light utility aircraft
manufacturer=American Champion Aircraft
designer=Bellanca
first flight=
introduced=1974
retired=
status=
primary user=
more users=
produced=
number built=more than 500, as of 2008
unit cost=
variants with their own articles=The 8GCBC Scout is a two-seat, high-wing, single-engine fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which entered production in the United States in 1974. Designed for personal and commercial use, it is commonly found in utility roles such as bush flying—thanks to its short take off and landing (STOL) ability—as well as agriculture, pipeline patrol, and glider and banner towing.

Production history

The Scout was designed and initially produced by Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, and is a derivative of the 7-series Citabrias and 8KCAB Decathlon; Bellanca had been building these designs since receiving them in the acquisition of Champion Aircraft Corporation in 1970. The Scout is one of two wholly Bellanca-developed contributions to these aircraft series, and is also one of only two airplanes Bellanca produced in the 7 and 8 series which are not certified for aerobatics. (The other model, in both categories, is the 7ACA.) The Scout carries the model designation 8GCBC which makes it both a sibling of the 8KCAB Decathlon and descendent of the 7GCBC Citabria. Bellanca produced more than 350 Scouts before production ended when the company's assets were liquidated in 1981.

The Scout design passed through the hands of a number of companies through the 1980s, including a Champion Aircraft Company which was no relation to the Champion Aircraft of the 1960s. In that period, only one Scout was built, in 1984. American Champion Aircraft Corporation acquired the Scout design, along with the Decathlon and the group of Citabria and Champ variants, in 1990 and brought the Scout back into production in 1993.

Design

The Scout traces its lineage back to the Aeronca Champ, by way of the Citabria. Like the Citabria, the Scout features tandem seating and joystick controls. The fuselage and tail surfaces are constructed of welded metal tubing. The outer shape of the fuselage is created by a combination of wooden formers and longerons, covered with fabric. The cross-section of the metal fuselage truss is triangular, a design feature which can be traced all the way back to the earliest Aeronca C-2 design of the late 1920s.

The strut-braced wings of the Scout are, like the fuselage and tail surfaces, fabric covered, utilizing aluminum ribs. The wings of Bellanca Scouts were built with wooden spars. American Champion has been using aluminum spars in the aircraft it has produced and has, as well, made the aluminum-spar wings available for retrofit installation on older aircraft. Compared to the Citabria’s wingspan of 33.5 feet, the Scout’s wingspan is significantly longer, at over 36 feet. The Scout also carries wing flaps, a design feature it shares with the 7GCBC variant of the Citabria. The added wing area and the flaps contribute to the Scout’s STOL abilities and its capacity as a utility aircraft.

The landing gear of the Scout is in a conventional arrangement. The main gear legs of most Scouts are made of spring steel, though American Champion began to use aluminum gear legs in 2004. Compared to the Citabria’s gear, the Scout’s gear legs are considerably taller and the tires larger, again contributing to its capabilities as a utility aircraft.

Bellanca made the Scout available with several Lycoming O-360 engine variants, all of 180 horsepower (134 kW), and with the choice of a fixed-pitch or constant speed propeller. American Champion’s Scouts feature the Lycoming O-360-C1G and a choice of a two-blade constant speed propeller (standard) or a three-blade constant speed propeller (as an option).

Operational history

The success in utility roles of the 150-horsepower Citabrias, both the 7GCAA and particularly the 7GCBC—the Scout’s closest relative in the Citabria line—was the impetus for Bellanca’s creation of the Scout, with its greater wing area, larger engine, better ground clearance, and higher gross weight and useful load. Though the Scout went out of production within less than 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 Scout has sold steadily if in small numbers. Scouts remain popular as bush planes—including versions fitted with floats or skis—, for glider and banner towing, for pipeline patrol, in agricultural uses, and as personal aircraft.

Wood spar Airworthiness Directive

A number of Scouts were involved in accidents—in many cases fatal—which involved wing spar failures. More than a few of these accidents involved aerobatics, maneuvers for which the aircraft was neither designed nor approved. (The Scout suffered, in this respect, from its close resemblance to the Citabria line of aircraft, all of which are capable of aerobatics; the similarity in appearance suggested to pilots a similarity of ability.) Other cases of spar failure occurred during normal operations, such as banner towing; the failures would occur during high-stress portions of the flights, but under stresses which the design should have been capable of withstanding. It was typically found that these failures during normal operation had been preceded by undetected overstressing conditions which were the result of flight outside the aircraft’s limitations (such as aerobatics) or accidents in which the wings contacted the ground (including ground loops and nose-overs in which the airplane ended up on its back).

This series of failures resulted in the issuance by the Federal Aviation Administration of an Airworthiness Directive (AD 2000-25-02 R1) affecting all wood-spar wing Scouts. The AD calls for immediate and thorough inspections of the wing spars of any Scouts involved in accidents. Further, the AD mandates meticulous yearly inspections for all Scouts with wood-spar wings. Scouts built by American Champion, as well as those which have been retrofitted with the factory metal-spar wings, are exempt from the inspection requirements of the AD.

Operators

Scouts are used as tow aircraft by the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in their gliding program.

The Department of Environment and Conservation, Fire Management Services located in Western Australia operates a fleet of 8 Scout aircraft for fire detection and other air support roles.

Specifications (2006 8GCBC Scout)

aircraft specification
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=one pilot
capacity=one passenger
length main= 23 ft 0 in
length alt= 7 m
span main= 36 ft 3 in
span alt= 11 m
height main= 9 ft 8 in
height alt= 2.9 m
area main= 180 ft²
area alt= 16.7 m²
airfoil= NACA 4412
empty weight main= 1,400 lb
empty weight alt= 635 kg
loaded weight main= 2,150 lb
loaded weight alt= 975 kg
useful load main= 750 lb
useful load alt= 340 kg
max takeoff weight main= 2,150 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 975 kg
more general=
engine (jet)=
type of jet=
number of jets=
thrust main= lbf
thrust alt= kN
thrust original=
thrust more=
afterburning thrust main= lbf
afterburning thrust alt= kN
engine (prop)= Lycoming O-360-C1G
type of prop=
number of props= 1
power main= 180 hp
power alt= 134.2 kW
power original=
power more=
max speed main= 140 mph
max speed alt= 225.3 km/h
max speed more=
cruise speed main= 112 mph
cruise speed alt= 180.2 km/h
cruise speed more=(at 55% power)
never exceed speed main= 162 mph
never exceed speed alt= 260.7 km/h
stall speed main=
** Clean: 54 mph
stall speed alt=86.9 km/h
stall speed more=
** With full flaps: 49 mph (78.9 km/h)
range main= 425 mi
range alt= 684 km
range more=
ceiling main= 17,000 ft
ceiling alt= 5,181.6 m
climb rate main= 1,075 ft/min
climb rate alt= 5.46 m/s
loading main= 11.9 lb/ft²
loading alt= 58.4 kg/m²
thrust/weight=
power/mass main= 11.9 lb/hp
power/mass alt= 7.3 kg/kW
more performance=
armament=

References

*cite web | url=http://www.cadets.ca/about-nous/partnr/partnrs-cf_e.asp | title=About Cadets | work=Cadets – Sea, Army & Air Cadets | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.aircadetleague.com/manitoba/Gliding.html | title=Air Cadet Gliding in Manitoba | work=Manitoba Air Cadet Program | accessdate=2006-09-20
*"Airworthiness Directive 2000-25-02 R1." (May 30 2001.) Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration.
*cite web | url=http://aerofiles.com/_al.html | title=American airplanes: Al - av | work=Aerofiles: A Century of American Aviation | accessdate=2006-08-12
*cite web | url=http://aerofiles.com/_ca.html | title=American airplanes: Ca - ci | work=Aerofiles: A Century of American Aviation | accessdate=2006-08-12
*cite web | url=http://aerofiles.com/_bella.html | title=Bellanca | work=Aerofiles: A Century of American Aviation | accessdate=2006-08-12
*cite web | url=http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X34724&key=1 | author=National Transportation Safety Board | title=BFO86FA047 | work= | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001207X04161&key=1 | author=National Transportation Safety Board | title=BFO95FA082 | work= | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001214X39262&key=1 | author=National Transportation Safety Board | title=FTW84FA193 | work= | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001214X41185&key=1 | author=National Transportation Safety Board | title=NYC84FA306 | work= | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X31599&key=1 | author=National Transportation Safety Board | title=MKC87FA131 | work= | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X31902&key=1 | author=National Transportation Safety Board | title=NYC87FA272 | work= | accessdate=2006-09-08
*cite web | url=http://www.amerchampionaircraft.com/newac/scout/sctspecs.htm | title=Scout Specifications | work=American Champion Aircraft Corporation: Scout Model 8GCBC Specifications | accessdate=2006-09-08
*"Service Letter 406." Revision A. (May 6 1998.) American Champion Aircraft.
*"Type certificate data sheet no. A21CE." Revision 13. (Oct. 14, 2004.) Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration.

External links

* [http://www.amerchampionaircraft.com/ American Champion Aircraft Corporation]
* [http://www.bellanca-championclub.com/ Bellanca-Champion Club]

See also

aircontent
sequence=
7GCBC -
7KCAB -
8KCAB -8GCBC
related=
*7GCBC Citabria
*8KCAB Decathlon
similar aircraft=
*Aviat Husky
*Piper Super Cub
lists=
see also=