Honestly unless you can ride that 7ECA to the edge of it's envelope with surgical precision you have not mastered it.
I don't think you understand where I'm coming from. There's a big difference between mastering a Citabria and mastering aerobatics. I mentioned the budding
serious aerobatic pilot. Lots of people fly occasional aerobatics. 99% of them only do lazy flopped loops and rolls. When I say "serious", I mean someone who makes the effort to study, obtain advanced dual, practice hard, and obtain ground critiquing and coaching. Those types are rare, but they are out there. I know many of them, because my perspective is one that comes from the world of competition aerobatics.
I don't know how extensive your aerobatic experience is, but aerobatics involves a vast array of fundamental maneuvers and skills. A 7ECA Citabria will only allow you to scratch the surface, not that a little aerobatic Citabria time would be a bad thing.
So fundamental aerobatic skills -
* Straight and level rolls. The only good ones I've seen a Citabria do were in the 150hp 7KCAB, which has inverted systems. In the 7ECA, unless you want to dump all your oil out during a practice session, you're not going to be able to practice this skill very well. And even so, once the engine quits around the first knife edge point, the airplane really isn't going to fly it right, even if you have the technique. Not a good airplane to learn how to do straight and level rolls in. This is an acro 101 basic skill.
* Snap rolls - The Citabria will do them. But unless you want to do fuel tank repairs, you're not going to want to do repeated snaps. This would make it hard to learn snaps in.
* Vertical rolls - The Citabria will maybe do a quarter roll from Vne, but it won't have enough rotation capability to understand the finer points of rolling the airplane perfectly vertically, and keeping the wingtip moving across the horizon without pitch changes, or moving up and down.
* Inverted spins - most prefer to do these in an airplane with an engine that will stay running.
* Inverted flight, inverted turns, and inverted adverse yaw issues - see above.
* I wouldn't even consider flying basic gyroscopic figures in a Citabria.
So in a 7ECA Citabria, you could spend years perfecting your Bob Hoover deadstick routine, but at the end of it, you'd still have only scratched the surface with respect to the available aerobatic skills that you could have been working on in other more capable airplanes. If you're into competition, you'll move past the 7ECA
real fast. It all boils down to your flying style and to what extent you want to develop your skills. Not everone is your average occasional weekend aerobatic "flopper".
Just using the power of a extra to bail yourself out is a mask for lack of energy management, just look at hoover in that aero commander.
I doubt you've spent any significant time in high performance aerobatic airplanes. Horsepower is not used as a "bail-out". High performance can get you into trouble twice as fast. There are lots of things a high power airplane will teach you to manage (and you
must learn to manage) that a low power/performance plane will not. Things such as strong gyroscopic yaw, which must be controlled. Strong slipstream effect. Propellor torque. Asymmetric thrust. Many seem to think that high performance airplanes will do it for you, and cover up lack of skill. I would suggest anyone who thinks this come to an aerobatic contest. You might just see a Decathlon beat an Extra in the lower categories.
Most of the guys that go buy SUs and Extras tend to have more money then skill, however they think that because they are rocking a extra or laser....
Not the pilots I know who fly Extras and Sukhois. But it is true that the majority of Extra pilots are NOT that serious about aerobatics, only want a hot machine, and don't have serious skills. This is nothing new. Same with sports cars and "crotch rocket" motorcycles. But try flying in the IAC Advanced or Unlimited categories in a Citabria. Even my Pitts is not competitive in Unlimited these days. Extras exist for good reason.
The only way someone should be in a extra is if sponsors paid for it, if you aint at that level, you just bought it
I don't think you have much understanding of the airshow world. Having a sponsor doesn't necessarily mean you have top level skill. Anyone can fly airshows if they want. You just need the desire to work through process. And I can only think of maybe ONE airshow pilot in the country who's airplane I'd say is actually paid for by his sponsor (Sean Tucker). Most do it as a hobby because they are in a financial position to support their own flying...maybe with a small bit of help from sponsors. They may get paid at airshows, but there are only about 2 in the country who actually make it their sole "career". There's a big difference between getting paid and making money when you consider the costs. I don't think you understand how little money is actually out there in the airshow world.
You don't even need to be that good to get an ICAS waiver and fly shows. You simply need to be able to perform some basic figures safely. Safe aerobatics it not hard. Precision and skilled aerobatics is. Yes, there is some world-level talent on the airshow circuit. There is also some marginal talent on the airshow circuit. Most of the best aerobatic pilots in the country do not have sponsors, and are unknown names. Many of these guys (and ladies) I see several times a year at IAC aerobatic contests. Many of them have Extras and MXs...and the skills to use them.
