Amazing Citabria 7GCAA Airplane Video
The Internet’s growth is amazing. With the continuous growth of the Internet and the expanding growth of aviation, The Airplane Blog is a huge medium that puts the two elements together. Yesterday I published a wonderful article that shows a pilot named Catherine Cavagnaro, who was piloting a Cessna 152 into 60 turn spins with a flawless recovery. As it turns out, I believe the video was recorded in a flight simulator. My brother pointed that out to me this afternoon. I don’t want to take away from Catherine Cavagnaro’s skills; its a very impressive video, but I want to find some actual footage of a pilot performing the same maneuver not in a simulator. I want to find the “Real Deal”.
Amazingly, I found an awesome video of a pilot performing the same maneuver as Catherine did in her simulated Cessna 152 Aerobat. Only difference is that this video is of a Citabria 7GCAA airplane and not of a Cessna 152 Aerobat and the pilot does half the number of turn spins performed in Catherine’s simulator. However, this video is the real deal. It is not a simulation. This is a very impressive video. The Citabria is a two-seat fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which entered production in the United States in 1964. It is mainly designed for flight training and recreational aviation use. However, the Citabria is very capable of sustaining hard aerobatic stresses, thus if you spell Citabria backwards you have AIRBATIC.
The Citabria was designed and initially produced by Champion Aircraft Corporation, and was a derivative of designs the company had been building since acquiring the 7-series Champ from Aeronca in 1954. The model 7ECA Citabria entered production at Champion in 1964. The 7GCAA and 7GCBC variants, added in 1965, were joined by the 7KCAB in 1968.
Check out this wonderful video of the Citabria 7GCCA airplane performing 28 turn spins with a quick and flawless recovery. This video is truly awesome.
Tags: Citabria 7GCAA, YouTube Videos
Filed under: The Blurbs
4 Responses to “Amazing Citabria 7GCAA Airplane Video”
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Mr. Nick Says:
July 28th, 2007 at 1:56 pmI don’t buy the idea that the 60-turn 152 video is from a simulator. Look at how the cockpit shadows move in relation to the aircraft’s position and how the pilot’s body sways. I’d be curious to know what makes you think the video is from a simulator.
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Garry Says:
July 28th, 2007 at 2:05 pmMr. Nick,
No argument here… I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. Her hair doesn’t move one bit. The camera doesn’t shake, there is no vibration, there is no shuttering and shimmering… look at the video again and compare it to this current video. Give Catherine Cavagnaro a call on the phone and ask her. That would be the definite answer. But as it stands, it is only speculation. The cockpit shadows you see aren’t that hard to generate in a flight simulator. Also, why can’t you see the prop? When you film something spinning a a high revolution it appears to spin slowly… additionally, as the RPM’s change slightly so does the pattern in which you can see the prop on film. Same goes when you watch the news and you see the news monitors behind the news anchors… you get those horizontal lines scrolling across the screen. The number of frames per second a video captures in relation to what the human eye can see is an interesting topic. Check out this article.
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Catherine Cavagnaro Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 6:58 pmI just left a response on the other article as well. I recorded this video inside my airplane N7395L and NOT in a simulator. It was last September 2006 and over KBGF. But thanks for thinking it unbelievable.
Cheers,
Catherine -
Caroline Says:
September 29th, 2007 at 9:15 pmI’ve watched Catherine do spins over KBGF many times. She has a tripod set up in the back behind the seats which she uses to film her spins. More times than not she flies from right seat as she is an aerobatic instructor. I talked her into uploading her video on youtube, it is real. If you don’t believe it perhaps you should take her course.
