"Plane & Pilot" Magazine...February 1997
Super Viking, The Forgotten Retractable
By, Bill Cox
Photography by James Lawrence
The following random excerpts are from the article Bill Cox wrote for Plane & Pilot magazine. Cox wrote the article after flying a 1977 Super Viking, borrowed from Screaming Eagle Aviation of Santa Paula, CA, to the 1996 Reno Air Races...Tom
"The Bellanca 300 has been on the scene for 30 years. Its durable design and craftsmanship are hallmarks of a different production philosophy, and that's just fine with us."
"No matter the vintage, the wing has always been Bellanca's primary claim to fame. A classic airfoil shape lovingly crafted of 1800 preformed pieces of Sitka spruce and mahogany plywood, the Viking's 34 foot wing is probably the closest thing in aviation to a work of art. Ask aircraft designers who truly understand light aircraft construction and performance and they'll tell you that, in many respects, Sitka spruce is a better material for building small to medium sized airframes than metal or composite materials."
"Wood has no memory as does aluminum, so it's highly resistant of dings. It's also more resilient, willing to flex thousands of times without stressing or breaking, and it doesn't delaminate under high temperature or repeated G-loads. Wood is lighter than metal (only 200 pounds for a finished Viking wing) and offers an easily shaped, seamless, rivetless aerodynamic surface that's ideally adapted to a small aircraft wing."
"It's almost inevitable when you fly a Bellanca that you analogize the airplane to a fine, old sports car. Those cars didn't run that much faster than everything else on the road---it was the way they drove that made them unforgettable. Handling was everything to a Lotus, Porsche, or Alfa Romeo. All could carve turns with sensuous finesse approaching a Grand Prix racer. Okay, so a Viking isn't quite that quick on the controls, it's nevertheless the fastest handling production retractable on the market. Owners almost unanimously pronounce the Viking the best handling airplane they've ever flown."
"Climb was a definite Bellanca plus, the best in the class, though not by much. The Viking scores 1210 fpm from sea level, compared to the Bonanza's 1167 fpm and the Mooney Ovation's 1200 fpm. Though the Viking wing imparts quick, responsive handling on the way uphill, it's optimized at low to medium altitudes. Optimum cruise comes at about 7500 feet, so climb time is short, usually less than seven minutes."
"Flying in unruffled air, the Viking certainly is no slouch at cruise. Though Bellancas seem to suffer more variable performance than other airplanes, I've flown several of the newer models with cruise speeds in excess of the magic 200 mph (measuring two-way groundspeeds rather than indicated airspeeds). In fact, it could be argued the new Vikings are the second fastest, normally aspirated retractables on the market, behind only the Mooney Ovation."
"The used test airplane wasn't quite up to that speed, but it hustled right along, nevertheless. With full fuel, three people and copious baggage on board, the Viking scored 171 knots TAS (197 mph) at the aforementioned 7500 feet on 15 gph. Later, I ran the airplane both ways on a measured course, and the result was an average 170 knots, so the airspeed indicator was fairly accurate (for a change)."
"A typical, fully equipped Viking weighs in at 2300 pounds, leaving just over 1000 pounds of useful load. Subtract a full 75 gallon top-off, and payload works out to 550 pounds, three people plus light bags. Leave the 15 gallon aux tank empty, however, and you can carry 640 pounds, four 160 pounders."
"IFR or VFR approaches can be pretty much as you like them. I've always felt the Viking's quick control response was a plus in IFR mode, but some pilots prefer more subdued handling. Flaps deploy to a whopping 46 degree (compared to 30 degrees on most lightplanes), and that brings the Viking downhill in a hurry. The Viking sports a relatively high 61-knot stall speed (legal certification limit for a single), but stall is so easily predictable that it's perfectly comfortable to ease down final toward a short field at 73 knots, 1.2 times the dirty stall speed. There are no surprises in the flare, with the fat wing maintaining just the right median between float and sink."
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