NOW THE 180-HORSEPOWER SUPER Decathlon has a bigger sibling—the 210-horsepower American Champion Xtreme features newly designed ailerons in addition to the Lycoming AEIO-390 engine. You can punch deeper holes in the sky, flying straight up, and roll at 120 degrees per second instead of 90. Redesigned ailerons are big news, almost as big as the more powerful engine. The ailerons are thicker. The front of the aileron protrudes above the wing and creates a low-pressure area that reduces stick forces. The trailing edge is blunter. It took several tries to get it right. The result is, no more spades. The Super Decathlon uses shovel-like attachments on the bottom of the ailerons called spades that give a pilot the equivalent of power steering in a car. The Super Decathlon will continue in production. The spade removal and other minor upgrades to the airplane were mainly done to save weight; the Lycoming 390 is 40 pounds heavier than the 180-horsepower Lycoming AEIO-360 used on the Super Decathlon. The use of exposed (at the front end), so-called “balance” ailerons gets rid of all the gap covers and wing-gap seals on the older Decathlon, and between that and the spades, saves 14 pounds of weight. The composite MT propeller is 15 pounds lighter than the two-blade aluminum Hartzell propeller used on the Super Decathlon. 7’ 7” WEIGHT was the issue with the 52 | AOPA PILOT July 2013 30’ 9” 22’ 11” ILLUSTRATIONS: STEVE KARP more powerful engine, and a composite floor (above) was one of the ways it was solved. The owner opted for Hooker Harness belts (top right). The main switches are above and behind the pilot, making them difficult to reach once locked into the harness.