7ECA Empty Weights

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pilotbrad

New member
For what it is worth...

My '73 comes in at 1150 empty. A little heavy, but I have an Airwolf Remote Oil Filter, DME, Glideslope, 3LMB, Gyros, and a few other gadgets, which all pack on a few extra pounds.

Most (if not all) of the ECA's I have flown have been in the 1100-1150 range.
 
IMHO, I wouldn't be overly concerned with metal vs wood wings as it relates to gross weight. I would look for the right airplane first. ;-)

I was concerned about the 500 pound useful load on my aircraft when I bought it, but it hasn't proven to be an issue for me. I am 210 pounds, and with a decent fuel load and a friend along, I am close to if not slightly over gross. While I am *not* advocating flying over gross, I have not yet met a Citabria pilot who has not admitted to conciously overloading once in a while (as long as CG in limits).

One more thing to consider...
While attending the recent West Coast Fly-in, we learned from excellent maintenance talk given by Dan Torrey, that the factory aluminum spars have a 1000 hour inspection requirement where the strut attach brackets need to be removed from the spar and the spar dye-inspected at the attach point. This is no simple (cheap) inspection because fabric need to be removed (and then replaced) and the struts removed and the wings supported. I am sure other member of this board can ellaborate (or correct me if I am wrong), but just food for thought.

Good luck!
 
By the way...

You mentioned earlier that you were looking at ECA's in the 1060 to 1120 range. 1060 is the published (POH) basic empty weight for the aircraft, and I would be suspicious of any older aircraft that claims to still weigh 1060. With the addition of equipment, recovering, or other modifications, most empty weights have gone up over time. I would want to see a recent W&B, where the aircraft was actually weighed, before I believed it was really 1060.
 
Mine comes in at 1047 lbs. This is with subtracting out 25 gallons of gas and the oil, leaving one gallon of unuseable gas. I have the actual W&B paperwork from the last weighing right in front of me.
 
Erik,

1047 would be nice...That would give me 103 extra pounds of useful load!

One question though...25 gallons? Typo (35 gals)? Or does your model really have 25 gals of useable?

~Brad
 
Yes, my 1970 7ECA has only two 13 gallon tanks. I don't know when the ECA went to 18 gallon tanks, but it happened not too long after mine was built. I wish I had them!
 
my 7eca comes in at 970 lbs empty. she is a stripped down machine. i do lots of off field work (alaska flying only), and that is all about flying light. i run only 8.50x6 tires. when i am light, i can keep up with a heavy super cub any day. fly safe out there!!
 
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