OK, your chance to spend my money:

Buddy just called and wants to sell 1/2 of his Decathlon, based right near me. I've always wanted to get a tail dragger, but I'm not a super aerobatic type of guy (but I could become that I guess). I really love the idea of a back country airplane, but I live in So Cal.

I'm also in a great flying club with 5 airplanes, including a Saratoga, so even though I still am always thinking of an A36, I'm covered for flying lots of missions with the club for now.

So my main question: Is the Decathlon strictly a fun, run around, loop and roll machine or is it versatile enough for mild back country stuff, if I can find a place to do that around here? A little camping and hiking and all that.... Because the setup is ideal (based 3 miles away and 1/2 ownership), I'm inclined to compromise a bit vs waiting to find a Carbon Cub or something.

What do you think?

I sure think they can be used for back country. You have to probably take off the wheel pants if it still has them. I had both a regular Decathlon and a Super Decathlon and I went in and out of lots of dirt roads and off the grid strips. You can loop, roll and spin your way home. And you can do IAC aerobatic contests easily in Basic and Sportsman. Nice way to get your feet wet in both types of flying at a 1/2 priced membership!

I love my Citabria, but the lack of flaps makes really short field work rather tough. I have it for sale and will likely replace it with something with a larger wing and flaps.

Bought a new one in 1981 for my flight school. They are really pretty versatile. Not really the best at any one thing, but they are fast, easy to land, pretty good at basic aerobatics, and I used it to land on field roads on the family farm. Most importantly, a real fun airplane.

I'd rather have a Citabria for the higher lift wing. I never really cared for the Decathlon's wing but I'm not an aerobatic kinda guy. Most acro guys move out of a Decathlon rather quickly into something else. But, any tail dragging experience is wonderful.

I got a Decathlon ride from the CFI / owner out of a beautiful 3000' grass strip. The plane did fine on that size runway, of course.

The owner said that given the high-drag airframe, it was forgiving for newer acro students - it would not build up speed rapidly and get away from you. He said the amount of horsepower available was pretty tepid for an acro bird, and with the symmetrical wing it didn't fly great either upside down or right side up.

His exact words IIRC were that it was "not really good at anything" but acceptable at doing a lot of things and you would really learn aerobatics since you had to work at it to make the plane do the maneuvers.

I remember reading a Budd Davisson article about the Citabria / Decathlon series and being a little amazed at the need to replace stretched elevator cables and belly fabric on airplanes that saw lot of acro use. I did not realize it was so hard on them.

http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepCitabria.html

But I had fun and the plane seemed like a good choice for a beginner at tailwheel or acro flying. It's the default choice, really.

Doug, is it advertised? There's a BT'er looking for one.

I love my Citabria.... The flaps definitely help with short field ops along with the bigger motor and CS prop.