Source: 2009 Q3 Beartracks, Kevin Deutscher
SEGMENT 1
I have been encouraged by various individuals to compile my experiences and thoughts on getting checked out in a Bearhawk.
First a little background, I am entering the final phases of plans building my Bearhawk #272, first flight only a few years away. Hopefully I have some excess years to fly off my building time. Over the years I have had an opportunity to associate with several builders and their Bearhawks, N232PF, Pat and Carol Fagan. N303AP, Mark Goldberg. N509RF, Scott Williamson.
This aviation world is a small circle and Scott and I live in the same community, he acquired N509RF to fly while constructing his QB Bearhawk. Some how Scott got the idea that I should get checked out in 509 and become a Real Bearhawk Pilot.
Given that, the following ramblings will attempt to capture the adventure and discuss the mental and physical transformation to a Bearhawk Pilot. My piloting experience is probably quite typical of many builders- General Aviation, started in sailplanes in 1969 and have tried to stay current through the years with a few breaks to do education and family. Along the way I have accumulated ASEL, AMEL, Glider, Instrument, Commercial, about 1000 hrs PIC. Several coast to coast cross countries and time in Super Cub and Husky. Divide hours by years, it gets pretty thin.
Scott comes at this from a different vantage point, Navy- P3 and then 737 captain. He has a lot of courage to undertake this activity. I noticed that 509’s seat upholstery has no buttons. Takes a bit of fortitude to go forward with this plan, were talking letting someone else actually execute the takeoff and landings. This is the dreaded taildragger beast and he knows nothing of my clubfeet, let alone having me fly right seat, which is foreign to me.
So, here we go. This is not really about the Bearhawk in general or specifically 509, it is more about what goes on in the head of a rusty, 55 year old pilot who wonders if the Bearhawk was the correct choice and if I can get my head around and ahead of the task at hand.
First several flights were humbling and left me with doubts as to my capability and future direction. There is no real comparison between a Super Cub and a Bearhawk they are each unique. The first wake up call is best described as sensory overload. Everything is different, I cannot see any thing over the nose taxiing. When the throttle goes in the acceleration and audible power cannot be ignored, they overwhelm. Oh, I still cannot see on the takeoff, long before I figure out what is happening we are flying. This is good because I thought, I’ll fly airwork, Scott can do the landings. Somehow I had a strange grin thru it all. Airwork on the first two flights was a bit sloppy, behind the plane and not dialed into the control force relationship.
I was sloppy, not the plane, it was doing exactly what I was commanding, leave it alone and it does a perfectly good job of taking care of you. Heading back to the airport I hand over the task of pattern and landing to Scott. My brain is drained. Can’t fly, not gonna land it. Scott bends it around, aiming point fixed, drops the tailwheel on the displaced threshold line, piece of cake.
The next week was one of reflection and inflection. Scott had commented his purpose was to act as safety pilot, he was not acting as an instructor, occasionally he would drop a little tid bit, mostly he cleared the airspace and enjoyed the beautiful day. I had come to a conclusion that if I were to master this it would come one tiny step at a time. Back to very basics.
The next flights started out, MCA, slow flight, turns, steep turns, configuration transitions. Actually started having fun. I was flying, it is all in the windshield, watch the picture, it tells a story. The feet started dancing to the music, I was rewarded with steep turns that were on rails,nailed the wake several times. Roll in roll out, direction reversal pretty well coordinated. It does not bite. I need to be less timid. Hard work has its own reward.
It is coming together, at this point I am relaxed, enjoying the experience, not over whelmed anticipating what is ahead, or so I thought. Scott has this brilliant idea, since the dirt strips are all muddy from the thunderstorms, let’s go to Phoenix Regional and do some touch and goes!
Talk about ruining the moment.
SEGMENT 2 –
Descending on the way over to Phoenix Regional I set up for full patterns at 800 ft AGL. Phoenix Regional is our local lost orphan airport, once envisioned as a fly in community now a poster child for bust or bust real estate development. Un maintained, narrow asphalt runway, not aligned with natural or man-made reference points. Enhancing the experience, are thoughts of first landings on asphalt with 6 x 8.50 tires accompanied by the fragrance of surrounding feedlots.
The cadence should go something like this, downwind abeam, GUMPS. Abeam touch down point, power to idle, prop forward, decel to 80 mph. Trim, two notches of flaps, hold pitch, hold heading. Turn base, 70 mph 3rd notch flaps, trim. Establish aim point, clear runway environment, turn final, roll out on runway centerline, aim point, attitude, airspeed, lock that sight picture till round out. Round out, hold level, decel, set landing attitude pitch, hold pitch, cancel lateral drift with ailerons, nose straight with rudder. Touchdown, tailwheel contact, hold full up elevator, keep the nose straight with quick light dancing feet, stop the motion, release the pressure, move the nose back, better yet, never let it move to start with. Transition to light braking. Keep flying until completely stopped. Retract flaps. Sounds very normal. The problem is it happens in a time span similar to reading this paragraph. Or so it seems.
Actual execution went something like this. Establish downwind, too wide because flying right seat, left traffic means I cannot see the runway unless I am moved a bit away from it. Not to worry, I’ll pay the price for that later. Looking left for abeam touchdown point my field of views is limited to Scott’s Bose noise canceling headset. Power to idle, yaw, trim, flaps, pitch change, re-trim, turn base, drop the nose, accelerate. Somewhere in here there is a realization that the windshield is filled with earth and this thing drops like a rock, no way to make the runway without power. I am a bit behind the plane but manage to sort most of it out on short final. Right now the aiming point is anywhere on the runway. Round outs are a bit too high and when I set landing attitude forward view goes to nothing but that’s OK cause maybe I can see something somewhere to use as a reference point.
Learning in a side by side is different than tandem because in a tandem when you make the instructor really uncomfortable you cannot tell. However, in a side by side my peripheral vision is picking up subtle clues Scott is tensing up and posturing to spring into action. What a confidence builder.
We got through at least half a dozen landings and a few fly-throughs. A couple of landings were not pretty, mostly attributed to rounding out too high and dropping it in. The gear and tires did a great job of absorbing the abuse. I seem to have a greater difficulty in height and descent rate assessment than setting pitch attitude and keeping things heading the right direction. I found that directional and drift control using the front peripheral triangles was OK once I got the sight picture understood.
Not much comment on the takeoffs, pretty straight forward, did 3 point and tail up with 2 notches of flaps. Need some polish but directional control on takeoff is very good with lots of control authority. Properly setup a 3 point takeoff is almost an act of levitation.
The plane will liftoff clean, hold pitch attitude and accelerate on climb out. Once clear of obstacles and flap retraction, procedure should be a pitch and power reduction to a cruise climb of 90 mph. This plane with the O-540 and a two-blade prop has a climb deck angle and a rate of ascent that is not only impressive but also much greater than needed to mix with traffic in the pattern. The airplane has a lot of capability; the key is to fly the correct profile for the task at hand.
I call it quits and head back to Stellar. My brain is toast, the landing is Scotts. Repeat performance of his previous landing. Unwavering concentration, it shows. While taking care of the post flight house keeping, tucking 509 in the hanger I have one of those Duh! moments. Scott’s seat has a big build up of cushions on the seat bottom and back. Bet if I was sitting up another 3 inches I could actually see! I have plenty of headroom, when I fly rental planes there is usually an extra cushion involved, silly me, thought that was just to put some upholstery over the springs.
Never hit me to use a cushion on a perfectly functional seat. Particularly when in-flight visibility is so good. Come to find out, 509 was built to comfortably seat the builder who is 6’3”. I struggle to be 5’9”. One of the amazing things about raising kids is how much they learn in a short period of time.
They walk, talk and train their subjects strictly by observing their environment and performing little experiments to see what happens. I am older, house broke, have more life experience to build upon but the learning process is no different. I need to have the opportunity to experience a situation, manipulate it and observe the reactions and process the information. A moving cockpit might be OK for exposure and experimenting but not the best place for sorting out all the observations of the day. I think I know why kids need naps… I have several trips to take over the next few weeks with hours of down time to ruminate. Somehow I need to make sense of a few key points, unravel the what and why then fix it.