"Flying" Magazine...July 1998

Bellanca Viking, Model 17

Used Airplane Report by: Richard L. Collins



The most recent Viking related article from "Flying Magazine" is basically a rewrite of articles they published in the early seventies. Collins starts out by documenting the Viking's lineage from the 1938 Bellanca Junior through the Bellanca 14's (1946-1968) and on to the current 17-series of aircraft.

Nearly every Viking photographed in the article has the "unique to '75" model year scheme, and the one photo of the instrument panel shows an early (pre mid-'73) layout without the 'center stack' radio package... Tom

LIKES:



Collins relates a few impressions from "Flying's" visit to the factory in Alexandria, MN during 1971. "Our man of the moment, Stephan Wilkinson, was taken by the factory, especially the wing-making process. Sitka spruce spars were impressive, and 'a craftsman would sell his soul for a taste of the mahogany sheeting used to cover the wings.' After flying a 300 Continental Viking, Wilkinson reported, 'In the air, a Bellanca is a dancing, prancing delight to fly.'"

"...at this time the "Super" airplane got an "Auto-Axion" landing gear system that extended the gear automatically if the pilot forgot."

"The Super Viking also had a new, greatly simplified fuel system that addressed vehement pilot complaints of the past. As the horsepower of the Bellanca had increased over time, the airplane had to have more fuel. This had been added in an almost haphazard manner to the point that it had two main and three aux tanks and an incredibly complicated system of switching between the tanks; fueling the airplane had also become difficult. The revised fuel system could be refueled normally and there were just four choices on the fuel selector: off,left, right and aux."


DISLIKES:



"The airplane became the Super Viking in the early '70s and at that time our reporter mentioned the "cozy" cabin. It is tight for four people and there's no really good place to stow things like Jeppesen manuals for easy retrieval in flight."

"Much was always made of the Bellanca interiors. Beside being small, the shape of the inside of the airplane always had, well, a dated look. Rather than fight that, Bellanca used very nice fabrics---nothing modern---and this combined to give the airplane a "Pullman-car" look."

PRICING COMMENTS:



"As with most airplanes, the majority of the Vikings were built in the '70s so that's where most of the used airplanes are. According to "Aircraft Bluebook-Price Digest" prices start at $45,000 for a 1970 model and reach $81,000 for a 1979 model. Turbocharged airplanes are a few thousand dollars more..."

"Compared with other singles with like power, the Bellanca comes in as the lowest-cost retractable. According to a recent issue of "Aircraft Bluebook-Price Digest," a 1978 Bellanca Viking 17-30A has an average retail of $74,000. A V35B Bonanza of the same year rings in at $132,000, a Cessna 210 at $114,000 and a '78 T-tail Lance at $78,000..."




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