Chief leaves Clarion

Today John and I drove up to KAXQ (Clarion, PA) to pick up the 1940 Aeronca Chief (LA-65).

John is a very experienced tailwheel pilot I've known for a few years. It took us 2:20 to drive from Uniontown to Clarion airport, and we took care of alot of the tailwheel ground instruction on the ride up.

As we drove north, the clouds lowered and the winds picked up. It wasn't anything close to the forecast (Clg 4500, winds 260@7). Oops.

We arrived, opened the hangar, and did a very thorough preflight (the airplane had an annual completed on Tuesday).

It's an amazingly simple airplane. We spent about an hour going over every inch, but every inch was as expected and it was deemed airworthy.

The weather was worsening -- winds were now G16 and varying a bit. Rain was spitting from the dark, low clouds rolling by overhead at a good clip.

"Wanna start it up?" John asked.

"Sure..."

We did a dry run, sequence was set, "Brakes, Mags.." prop was thrown and the engine sputtered. I gave it the gas and soon the engine was making the classic "Airknocker" putt-putt sound. The huge tach in the center registered 1000 RPM, and the oil pressure was in the green band.

John pulled the chock and walked around back and entered on the right side. It was as cozy as a 152, but the sling seat actually provided a good bit of headroom (I removed the plywood board that had been perched on top of the seat frame).

Once we were set, I rolled forward and tested the brakes. Hmm... right is good, left... not so much. It was taking quite a bit of lower-leg gymnastics to get the heel brakes to operate. I'd have to experiment a bit...

We taxied a while and I did figure 8s on the pad, practicing heel brake use and proving I knew how to maintain proper aileron and elevator position in the wind.

"Let's fly it around the pattern..."

OK!

We taxied down, did a run up -- everything worked as expected. I told John I'd rather observe this circuit. He agreed -- the wind was pretty strong.

We started rolling and he picked the tail up and we immediately weathervaned into the wind, now 20 degrees left. Ugh.

We served a bit as he learned what the rudder would do. In no time we were airborne. It wasn't pretty, but we took off.

"Wow -- that was squirrely!"

I agreed -- I'd never swerved like that in any trike -gear.

We climbed to about 500' AGL and bounced around a bit. The airplane flew straight and handled as expected. We did a slight slip turn from base to final, and watched the windsock flap back and forth 30-40 degrees. Ugh.

The landing was -- interesting. It was 3 point, but we bounced as the 20 knot wind caught our motorized kite. Wheel full aft and we finally settled, but now we were heading for runway edge lights. Ugh.

We got straightened out and took it back to the fuel point.

I was sweating -- and I wasn't the one flying!

"That's some wind."

It sure was... in this airplane. I wouldn't have thought twice about it in the A36 or 205. But the light wing loading, tiny tailwheel, and weathervaning tendencies were very apparent in this airplane.

We spent some time waiting out a passing rain, then topped off the fuel -- 3.5 gal. I've never pumped that little at any airport (It carries 12).

I told John we could do this another day -- if he didn't think it was flyable, we'd drive back home.

He checked and re-checked his GPS and maps a few dozen times. The sky started to brighten.

"I'll try it -- I have my cell -- I'll call you if I divert."

Ok...

I watched him taxi and takeoff - it weathervaned again, but climbed ok. I waited a while and then hopped in the car.

1.5 hours later he called from FWQ -- he said it was the roughest ride he ever remembered having (John has about 2500 hours). After he landed 3 guys walked over from a Bonanza -- "We just wanted to see who was flying a Chief in this -- we did one approach and decided to call it a day."

I arrived about and hour later, and we filled it up: 4.5 gal for 1.5 flying time. Nice.

I taxied it back to the hangar, getting a better feel for the ground handling.

Tomorrow morning I'm flying some dual if the winds stay <10 knots.

On the way home John said, "Let me know if you get tired of that airplane -- I'll buy it off you."

Oh?

"Once I flew it a bit I learned it's quirks -- it's a very straight flyer -- you're gonna love this airplane!"

I can't wait!