Pitts Special! Now there's a name that has more than its share of mental images attached to it. More than any other single airplane, it has been the omnipresent American aerobatic machine for generations. In fact, it seems impossible that it has been over half a century since the first of the little pug-nosed acrobugs took to the air with 55 wheezing horses up front. A lot of avgas has gone under the bridge since then, and the Pitts clan has grown and prospered until the models and variations take a score card to keep track of.

Equally as difficult to believe is that 2001 marks exactly 30 years since the first certificated Pitts Special was produced. At that time it was a partnership between Curtis Pitts, Herb Anderson, and Doyle Child, and they were building the 200-hp S-2A under the name Aerotek in the old Callair manufacturing facility in Afton, Wyoming. Then came the certificated S-1S single-hole, the S-2S 260-hp single-place bird, and the S-1T 200-hp constant-speed one-holer. Then Frank Christensen burst on the aerobatic scene with his Christen Eagle, and shortly thereafter, he bought Aerotek and renamed it Christen Industries. Almost immediately, he produced the 260-hp S-2B two-place machine, which is probably the most recognized and most common of the Pitts breed. It remained in production through another ownership and name change to Aviat until only two years ago. At that point, Stu Horn, the latest owner of Aviat Aircraft (he bought Aviat from Malcolm White and renamed the company) sought Curtis Pitts's advice and help in redesigning the S-2B.

The big Hartzell three-blade is standard equipment. Note the new gear leg profile. It looks like spring gear but isn't.

The square wing tips and tail bothered most Pitts freaks for a little while, but now they look "normal." The airplane pictured is the factory prototype "C" model, dubbed "Hot Stuff" for obvious reasons. It's actually one of the Anniversary "B" models they used to build as a prototype.

Visible Changes
It was with all of this information in mind that I approached a friend's loaner S-2C. I spent some time circling the airplane, reacquainting myself with the various changes, cosmetic and otherwise. To anyone who has spent a lifetime around Pitts Specials, the new rectilinear wingtips and tail surfaces are something of a shock; however, now that the airplane has been around for a couple of years, they're beginning to look normal. These changes are obvious, but other subtle changes in the basic lines aren't. The "banana bellyî lower fuselage line has been brought up, which makes the airplane appear much leaner and sleeker. The control system torque tube has always driven the shape of the belly, but rather than changing the torque tube, they housed it in a small streamlined fairing and brought the rest of the belly up around it. At the same time, nearly the entire belly became transparent, courtesy of a series of Plexiglas panels, not unlike a pre-World War II fighter's canopy, only on the bottom of the airplane.

The landing gear has been modified to look like a faired spring gear, but it isn't. The only thing that changed was that the rear of the gear leg has been bent forward for a cleaner appearance. Herb Anderson designed it sometime back in the early 80s, but it was never put on an airplane. We'll come back to this new gear later.

The front of the canopy has been greatly cleaned up, with the formed windshield giving way to a flat wrap panel that lies back at nearly 60 degrees, which contributes to a sleeker look as well as lower drag.

One change that is obvious is the composite Hartzell prop. This single change is responsible for nearly $25,000 of the price differential between the B and Charley model.

The cockpit seems bigger, probably because of the glass belly.

Regardless of what many think, the new Charlie is definitely not a slightly warmed over "B" Model. It flies like an entirely different airplane.

Because of the new tail design, the airplane needs virtually no forward pressure when flying inverted and the stick pressures are the same inside and outside.

Any Pitts, if landed straight, will roll straight until it goes down through about 50 to 60 mph, but the Charley just kept rolling while my feet got ready to correct a little foray one way or the other. But there was none. The airplane must have been down around 35 mph before I had to tap it a couple of times to keep it straight. This is the same way the prototype was, and I thought that was a fluke, so it was nice to see the production birds were just as straight. I wound up shooting a half a dozen landings, each time letting the airplane roll for a long, long way to see how it behaved, and each time was better than the last. I messed with different speeds over the fence and found this airplane was happiest just on the high side of 95 mph, but 100 is probably a more practical number as it gives a hint more float.

This last point, the way the Charley seems to track a little straighter on the runway, makes absolutely no sense to me. Even though the gear legs are a different shape, the geometry is still the same. And touchdown is still around 70 mph, so there is no logical reason for it to be more mannerly on the ground than a Bravo. It doesn't land like a Citabria, but it is still probably the best Pitts yet on ground handling. Incidentally, a normal Pitts checkout for a pilot with a little tailwheel time (15 to 20 hours) can generally be done in six to eight hours, depending on the student's background. In the Charley, the time might even be shorter.

There's a tendency to compare the Pitts to something like an Extra 300 or Staudacher, which isn't really fair. The Pitts S-2C is not an Unlimited category airplane, but it is still more airplane than 90 percent of the pilots in the world actually need. More important, it is absolutely superb and greatly improved from the S-2B. To be honest, I've never loved Bravos because they lack that certain "something" Curtis always put in his airplanes. In the S-2C, however, it can honestly be said that the hand of the master is back, and we are all benefiting from it. BD

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