53A is the JAV Maintenance Manager chase plane. This classic spent the majority of its life in the desert Southwest, which of, course preserved its airframe wonderfully. JAV found this plane hiding in a hangar just up the road from St. George. It’d not been started in 11 years and after a bit of love from our Maintenance Manager, it fired right up! 53A flies straight as an arrow and requires an experienced tailwheel pilot’s stable approach to land without hop…or a ground loop.