Source: 2012 Q1 Beartracks, Brady Lane, BH #1190

Two years ago, I bumped into a friend in a local hardware store. “I think I want to build a Bearhawk,” he told me. My eyebrows raised and my interest was piqued. Caleb wasn’t a pilot. He was an engineer by day and a project tinkerer by night.
Caleb wasn’t looking for a partner in the project but welcomed the idea after I convinced him our skill sets complimented each other and we could split all the costs 50/50. Most importantly, we could keep each other motivated throughout the project.
I was already a pilot but the furthest thing from a grease monkey. Changing the oil in my snow blower and F-150 was about the extent of my skills. However, I was longing for a meaningful project— something that would teach me new skills and provide a more meaningful way to spend my evenings than watching TV, surfing the Web or Facebook.
I also love taildraggers and grass strips, and have a family who enjoys camping and going to pancake breakfasts. The Bearhawk was the ideal plane. With aluminum wings and tube and fabric fuselage, I would also finally have an excuse to learn to weld and rivet.
Time for confession: building has always intimidated me–even as someone who works at EAA. While I dreamed of owning my own plane one day, I knew I couldn’t afford one that I really wanted and didn’t have the skills or experience to build one myself. Taking on a project like this with a partner, however, was a different story.
Caleb and I agreed to take the project at a pace we could afford and sustain. We’re not making any speed records, but we are making healthy forward progress. What makes our project most unique is that we decided to stream live video every week while we work on the plane. With a small camera strapped to the bill of baseball cap, we stream close-up video of exactly what we’re working on every week.
Since we’re both rookie aircraft builders, we wanted to stream video for two main reasons:
1 – We wanted to show that building your own airplane is surprisingly doable. It isn’t rocket science. In fact, when you break it down to individual parts, it is quite simple and achievable. We wanted to show firsthand through our discoveries as first-time builders how achievable a project like this is. For example, for weeks we made airplane ribs with only two simple hand tools–a pair of shears and a hammer. The thought of building an airplane can be intimidating to many people (myself included), but building a single airplane part is not.
2 – We also wanted to welcome tips and insight from other experienced builders. These tips would not only benefit us, but all the other builders and future builders watching the show. It’s sort of a live, uncensored,
organic Hints for Homebuilders series. Every night we work there are dozens of tips shared in the chat room. Just this week, while we were drilling holes in our spar cap strips, we learned different techniques for drilling straight holes, were introduced to Boelube, and a cool little drill bushing from Avery Tools.
For the last 18 months, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know many of you via the live video stream. You’ve saved us many headaches with your advice and tips and I can say with full confidence, this plane will fly one day because of your help and encouragement.
The Bearhawk community itself was also one of the convincing reasons we decided to build a Bearhawk. The plane is not only a great design, it is also greatly supported. Bob Barrows and the folks at Avipro are always just a phone call away and welcome any question. We’ve also been impressed with the supportive and engaged group of builders on the yahoo group, ready to field any question you throw at them. We hope our Tuesday night live video broadcasts offer just one more way to showcase the great community that is available to builders.
Whether you’re still in the dreaming phase of a project, a rookie builder like us, or you’re an experienced builder, I invite you to log in periodically to check out our progress, learn from our experiences (both the good and bad), and interact with other builders in the chat room.
See you this Tuesday, 6:30-9 pm (Central) at www.DreamBuildFly.com