* CORRECTION When I say "It's like pushing a shopping cart from the back, I mean pushing it from the front, lol" Hopefully that makes sense.
When a good friend asked me to go flying with him in his recently acquired '39 Chief, I didn't expect the first landing attempt to end with us ground looping it and ending up within a few feet of disaster. After that mishap, this airplane sat tucked away in the hangar for a few years until a few friends and I decided to buy it. I have flown all around the world, in multiple types, and have experienced emergencies in airliners, but this little taildragger gave me quite a bit of anxiety once I got back in it. After a few hours in the logbook, I'm starting to get the hang of it! The Chief is not as easy to master as the Cub, but I'm going to try. It's a 2013 Lindy winner and truly a beautiful airplane. It's nice to have it back flying again.
A few Unique things about this Chief, it's won an award at Oshkosh in 2013, it is a PreWar Chief, it has a really unique instrument panel and has an "up exhaust", which gives it a pretty unique engine note.
0:00 Into
00:25 The Dreaded Ground Loop
3:22 My Perspective on Buying it.
7:00 A few things different about the Chief
11:43 Hand Propping the Chief
13:34 First Takeoff in the Chief !
14:40 First Landing in the Chief
19:43 A few Final comments