Aircraft model
BELLANCA 7GCBC
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Citabria 7GCBC, the version with 150 hp, flaps and a longer wing. The flaps and the extra power transform it from a training aeroplane into a genuinely useful short-field machine — it climbs at over 1,100 fpm and gets off the ground in a few hundred feet, which is why it is popular for backcountry flying, glider towing and float operation as well as aerobatic training.
It is the pick of the Citabrias for most buyers. The caveats are the family's: fabric covering is the dominant lifetime cost, and the Bellanca-era wooden wing spars have a documented cracking history with inspection requirements that must be verified — this is the single most important question on any Bellanca-built aircraft of this family. Later American Champion aircraft have metal spars and sell at a premium partly because of it. It carries two people and very little else, cruises at only 100 knots, and is a taildragger requiring an endorsement and genuine currency.
Compare with…
Put BELLANCA 7GCBC side by side with up to two other models.
- BELLANCA 7GCBC
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming O-320-A2B |
| Horsepower | 150 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1964 |
| Production end | 1980 |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 100 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 500 nm |
| Service ceiling | 17,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,120 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 45 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 680 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 470 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,800 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,120 lb |
| Usable fuel | 35 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 8.4 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $50,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $185,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $28,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $40,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 725 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 487 |
| Median year built | 1974.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 34 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 5 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 69.821 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 67.762 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 108 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 22.183 |
| Airworthiness directives | 5 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 487 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 487 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 487 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 1 of 101 |
| Severity | 3.9 of 102 |
| Access | 7.3 of 103 |
| Support | 9.5 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 7.4 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 29.1 out of 506 |
These record scores treat BELLANCA 7GCBC as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 232 aircraft registered under AMERICAN CHAMPION AIRCRAFT; includes 144 aircraft registered under CHAMPION. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 29.1 · 174 models in class.
- Severity: class median 9.09.
- Access: class median 974.
- Support: class median 81.
- Liquidity: class median 20.47.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.