Scout (8GCBC) Specifications

General characteristics

Crew: one pilot
Capacity: one passenger
Length: 23 ft 0 in (7 m)
Wingspan: 36 ft 3 in (11 m)
Height: 9 ft 8 in (2.9 m)
Wing area: 180 ft² (16.7 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 4412
Empty weight: 1,400 lb (635 kg)
Loaded weight: 2,150 lb (975 kg)
Useful load: 750 lb (340 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 2,150 lb (975 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Lycoming O-360-C1G, 180 hp (134.2 kW)

Performance

Never exceed speed: 162 mph (260.7 km/h)
Maximum speed: 140 mph (225.3 km/h)
Cruise speed: 112 mph (180.2 km/h) (at 55% power)
Stall speed:
- Clean: 54 mph (86.9 km/h)
- With full flaps: 49 mph (78.9 km/h)
Range: 425 mi (684 km)
Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,181.6 m)
Rate of climb: 1,075 ft/min (5.46 m/s)
Wing loading: 11.9 lb/ft² (58.4 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 11.9 lb/hp (7.3 kg/kW)

Description Scout (8GCBC)

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

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.

The success in utility roles of the 150 horsepower (110 kW) 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.