American Champion Scout

The American Champion Scout, model 8GCBC, is a two-seat, high-wing, single-engine airplane with fixed conventional landing gear, designed for personal and commercial use and known for short takeoff and landing performance in bush flying, banner and glider towing, agricultural work and pipeline patrol. Bellanca designed it and began production in 1974 as a derivative of the Citabria and the Decathlon, giving it a larger wing with flaps, taller landing gear and a 180 horsepower Lycoming engine; it is not certified for aerobatics. Bellanca built more than 350 before its assets were liquidated, and American Champion acquired the design in 1990 and returned it to production in 1993. Wood-spar Scouts are subject to an FAA airworthiness directive requiring yearly spar inspections, from which factory metal-spar Scouts are exempt.