In case you're in a hurry I'll sum it up here: Super Vikings are Fast, Cheap, and Good Looking ! Lets start with articles on line written about the Super Viking:
After reading the above articles there is not much for me to say. A Bellanca Super Viking will run with a Bonanza, it's the price of a Warrior and it out handles pretty much any factory built airplane. It took about 4 months and I looked at several planes coast to coast before I found N4201B. But why a Super Viking? Of my total time 70% is in Piper products, from a Cherokee 140 to a Piper Navajo with a lot of time in an Arrow. Many pilots can only see owning an aircraft which flight schools have on their line. This seems to keep the price down on non flight school type aircraft and a over inflates the price on Cessna 172's in particular. My message here, if you're looking to buy an aircraft, look outside of the box! About my Super Viking: Flight controls: Quick and responsive and a joy to fly.
Room in the cockpit: More than a Mooney, less than a Cessna. I’m 6’3” 285 pounds and I don’t think an adult could sit behind me. But I rarely fly with anyone in the back seat. I didn't buy this plane to be a bus. Weight and Balance: Departing at max gross weight has never been an issue. Other than rate of climb the airplane feels normal. The front seats are on the CG and I’ve never seen a balance issue even with the aft tank full and the baggage compartment stuffed full. Turbulence: Cody Williams told me a story about going to pick up a Viking in a Cessna 210. Coming home Cody flew the Viking in formation with the 210. The pilot of the 210 was complaining of turbulence and hitting his head on the ceiling. Cody asked; “What turbulence?” The Viking wing is made to bend and in turbulence I have seen the wing tips flex. Wood bends and recovers, metal fails, makes a much smother ride.
Strength: Bellanca's in general are built for acrobatics and the Viking was no exception. However, the Super Viking was not certified for acrobatics. As I understand it's a cost issue and Bellanca is not a large company. There is a story about the Viking going though certification where the FAA fails the wing. The jig could bend the wing 4’ before the wing tip hit the floor. The Viking wing didn’t fail! One FAA inspector wanted to reset the jig to force a failure. To this the other FAA inspector simply said; Why? N4201B is a 17-30A and I've listed the numbers below. I also listed the numbers for a Turbo Viking so the difference can be noted.
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
