Mudry CAP 10B

The Mudry CAP 10 is a French side-by-side two-seat low-wing wooden aerobatic trainer, first flown in 1968 and certificated (as the CAP 10B) in 1974 under FAA TCDS A36EU. Designer and entrepreneur Auguste Mudry (1917–2006) built the CAP ("Constructions Aéronautiques Parisiennes," a name originally used by Piel) line at Bernay in Normandy. Over 280 were built across the original CAP 10, the fuel-injected CAP 10B, and the composite-spar CAP 10C. It became the standard aerobatic/upset-recovery trainer of the French Armée de l'Air (EAC 00.315 training squadron at Cognac) and for ENAC, with civil sales across Europe and a modest US presence.

The type certificate has changed hands repeatedly without always being re-registered with the FAA (its own Note 11 says so): Avions Mudry et Cie, then APEX Aircraft (2002), then Akrotech Europe, CAP Aviation, Dyn'Aviation, AUPA DYN'AERO and AERODIF are all listed as past holders, with CEAPR holding it since 2015. There is no current manufacturer building new airframes; CEAPR/CAP Aviation in France continues type-certificate support and parts supply. Manufacturer web presence has effectively vanished — ceapr.fr does not resolve at all, and cap10.com, mudry.fr and capaviation.fr are all now parked or redirect placeholders. For US buyers this is a niche but respected import, trading in the premium-Citabria-to- Decathlon range rather than in Extra/Pitts unlimited territory (that territory belongs to the single-seat CAP line described below, which this page does not price).

See also: Pitts Special S-2, Extra 200/300/330 Series, aerobatics.

Cruise is 140 KTAS at 75% power (Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988-89) — no altitude is stated for that row, so cruise_altitude_ft is left blank rather than assumed. Range is a directly published 650 nm, not a derived figure. Climb (1,200 fpm) and service ceiling (16,000 ft) are also Jane's figures; the previous page's 18,050 ft ceiling had no citation anywhere and is corrected down 11%. Fuel burn is not stated in either document located this session and is left blank — do not assume a figure to pair with the 140 kt / 650 nm above; see the runbook's warning against pairing figures from different rows.

The certificate governs two different operating configurations, and this page's frontmatter uses the heavier one. In Utility category the CAP 10B is cleared to 1,830 lb takeoff / 1,763 lb landing, both fuel tanks usable (19.0 gal front + 20.6 gal rear = 39.6 gal), 110 lb baggage allowed, and +4.4/−1.8 G flaps-up. In Acrobatic category the same airframe is limited to 1,675 lb, the rear tank must be run dry (front tank only, 19.0 gal usable, minimum 2.6 gal for the acrobatic sequence itself), no baggage at all, and the G envelope opens to +6.0/−4.5 flaps-up (+2.0/−2.0 flaps down) — this is the number that actually matters for what this airplane is bought to do. Maneuvering speed (Va) is correspondingly different by category: 108 kt at the heavier Utility weight, 127 kt at the lighter Acrobatic weight — both real, for different weights, not a disagreement. The CAP 10C's Major Change 000302 raises the Acrobatic-category weight only, to 1,720 lb; Utility weight and the G basis are unchanged.

Approved aerobatic maneuvers carry their own minimum entry speeds, per the certificate's placard requirements: loop 120 kt (1 pilot) / 125 kt (2 pilots), roll 120/125 kt, inverted loop 135/146 kt, hammerhead 108 kt both. A CAP10B modified per Major Change 000302 (the CAP10C wing) further limits snap-roll entry to a maximum of 86 kt.

Real-world handling: the fixed-pitch wooden Hoffmann prop is efficient but limits climb performance versus a constant-speed conversion. Roll rate is modest by pure-competition standards (roughly 180°/sec — well short of the single-seat CAP line's carbon-wing figures, which this page does not cover) but crisp and honest; the airplane is famously docile in the stall and recovers from spins cleanly, which is why it was adopted as a primary military aerobatic and upset-recovery trainer.

Corrected this session: the prior page's fuel capacity (19 gal, front tank only) and useful load (498 lb) described the ACROBATIC-category configuration while the page's other numbers described neither category consistently. The certificate's two configurations give two different answers:

Utility category (1,830 lb MTOW, 39.6 gal usable both tanks, 640 lb useful load, 110 lb baggage allowed):

• Two 180 lb pilots (360 lb) + full fuel (238 lb) = 598 lb, leaving 42 lb for baggage — full fuel, both seats, and real baggage fit within the 110 lb allowance. This is a materially different (better) answer than the prior page's uncited numbers implied.
• Two 200 lb pilots (400 lb) + full fuel (238 lb) = 638 lb — 2 lb margin to the 640 lb limit, no baggage.

Acrobatic category (1,675 lb MTOW, front tank only — 19.0 gal usable, rear tank drained, no baggage permitted, 485 lb useful load from the same 1,190 lb empty weight):

• Two 180 lb pilots (360 lb) + full front tank (114 lb) = 474 lb — fits within the 485 lb Acrobatic useful load with 11 lb to spare, so two-place aerobatic instruction with nearly full front-tank fuel is genuinely feasible, not just technically legal at minimum fuel.
• Solo aerobatic flight (180 lb pilot) + full front tank (114 lb) = 294 lb, well inside the limit.

• Aerobatics (7) — A genuinely capable two-seat aerobatic trainer to Sportsman/Intermediate level, cleared to +6.0/−4.5 G in the acrobatic category, with docile stall/spin behavior that makes it forgiving to learn in. Scored below the Pitts S-2C (+6/−5, purpose-built single-role biplane) because the CAP 10B is a heavier, less agile cross-country-capable trainer first and an aerobatic mount second — not because it borrows a score from an unlimited competition airplane this page no longer describes.
• Local Fun Flying (8) — Canopy visibility, light controls, and side-by-side seating (rare in an aerobatic airplane) make it one of the most enjoyable "Sunday morning" aerobatic hacks in existence.
• Flight Training (6) — The type's historic core role: France's primary aerobatic and upset-recovery trainer. Overkill and expensive as an ab-initio primary trainer, but excellent for spin/upset endorsement work.
• Cross-Country (4) — With the corrected fuel and weight figures (39.6 gal usable, 640 lb useful load — both up sharply from the prior page's uncited 19 gal / 498 lb) two-up touring with a real baggage allowance is genuinely feasible, not merely tolerable. Still limited by a ~140 kt cruise and no IFR certification.
• Business / Cargo / Backcountry / Surveying (1) — No utility role. Not IFR, taildragger-narrow gear geometry (tricycle-adjacent but unforgiving), no cargo capacity to speak of.

Factory CAP 10B panels are VFR-day: a basic six-pack, a Mode C transponder, one nav/com (often a King KX-155), and a G-meter. Many CAP 10Cs left the factory with a Garmin GNS 430 and GTX 327. Modern refurbishments commonly add a Garmin G5 or Dynon D3 portable AI, a GTN 650 slide-in replacement, and a GTX 335 ADS-B Out transponder. See Avionics Pricing Reference.

• CAP 10B → 10C wing spar retrofit — the factory's own composite carbon-sandwich wing spar (TCDS Major Change 000302), superseding the wood-spar AD burden below. Significant cost (€50,000+) but restores full aerobatic utility and resolves the repetitive inspection.
• Hoffmann HO-V72 prop — standard wooden fixed-pitch; some operators fit a metal fixed-pitch prop for durability. The certificate permits no cutoff at all on either approved propeller, confirming fixed-pitch is a certificate limitation, not merely the common factory choice.
• Smoke system — common airshow addition.
• Auxiliary tank — the certificate's own rear tank (20.8 gal total / 20.6 usable) already covers what earlier sales material sometimes describes as an "optional auxiliary" tank; see the sourcing note in raw/press/mfr-cap10b-janes1988-2026-09-12.md for the discrepancy between Jane's framing and the certificate's treatment of it as standard equipment.
• Canopy upgrades — bubble-canopy improvements on later CAP 10s.

• Parts availability: fair. CAP Aviation/CEAPR in France continues to stock and manufacture airframe parts, wood fittings, and canopies for European operators, but shipping to the US is slow and expensive. AEIO-360 engine parts are universally available via Lycoming.
• Mechanic familiarity: specialist. An A&P/IA in the US who has seen a CAP 10 is uncommon outside California, Texas and Florida aerobatic communities. Wood-structure experience is effectively mandatory.
• Annual cost: typically $12,000–$25,000 depending on spar AD cycle and fabric condition — not independently re-verified this session; carried over from the prior pass (see annual_cost_estimate above, left untouched per this session's scope).
• Expensive items: wing spar inspection/repair, fabric recovering, canopy replacement (single-piece, sourced from France), AEIO-360 overhaul (~$45,000 per reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md).
• Type club: CAP Owners / Mudry Association — parts sourcing and tribal knowledge.

See Maintenance Ecosystem.

See Aircraft Valuation Methodology for the general framework. Not independently re-priced this session — see the price_min/max/typical_usd provenance note above.

CAP 10B price tiers (US market, prior-pass estimate, not re-verified):

• $90k–$130k — High-time airframe, run-out or mid-time AEIO-360, unresolved spar AD compliance burden, basic VFR panel.
• $130k–$180k — Mid-time engine, current on all spar ADs, refreshed fabric/paint, basic IFR-capable nav/com.
• $180k–$220k — Low-time engine, documented hangar history, modern avionics (GTN + G5), freshly complied ADs.
• $220k+ — CAP 10C (composite spar), low time, turnkey.

Engine time on the AEIO-360 is a major value driver. See Maintenance Ecosystem.

The CAP 10 wooden wing spar has a long, significant AD history driven by the French DGAC (now EASA), mirrored by the FAA:

• AD 98-12-10 — install inspection panels and perform repetitive wing spar inspections for cracks, traced to over-G events, snap rolls outside the envelope, and hard landings.
• FAA AD 2003-03 (EASA equivalent) — expanded inspection method after additional fractures were found that the 98-12-10 procedure missed.
• AD 2007/2008 cycle — additional repetitive inspection of the wooden center block of the spar after drying-related cracks were discovered.
• AD 2010-27 — further superseding AD on wing spar inspection.

Any pre-buy of a CAP 10 or 10B must include a current wing spar inspection status review and evidence of recent compliance. Aircraft with unresolved AD status are near-unsaleable. CAP 10C aircraft with the composite spar are exempt from most of this regime and command a premium for exactly that reason.

Other common issues: wooden-structure moisture (hangar storage is mandatory — outside-stored CAP 10s rapidly develop glue-line issues), fabric condition (expect recovering every 15–20 years), inverted fuel/oil system maintenance (must be done by a shop familiar with aerobatic engines), and tailwheel/narrow-gear stress from hard landings.

The CAP 10B sits in the aerobatic specialty category (see GA Insurance Underwriting):

• CAP 10B hull (1,000-hr PPL, tailwheel endorsement, 50+ hours aerobatic instruction received, $150k hull): approximately $3,500–$5,500/yr hull + $1,500–$2,000 liability.
• CAP 10B is more insurable than a Pitts for low-time pilots because of its docile handling and side-by-side instructional layout.
• European-registered aircraft transitioning to N-reg incur ferry- and import-related hull surcharges.