Source: 2015 Q2 Beartracks, Rex Ervin
Articles by Budd Davisson in the 2002-2003 era convinced me that the home-built Bear-hawk 4-place would be the right airplane to replace my 1964 Cessna 206. Since the kids were gone or soon to be, I bought a quick-build kit in September 2004. It was displayed at the Bearhawk booth at the Copperstate fly-in in October of that year on its way to Oregon. We flew down in the 206 and stayed at Budd’s B&B during the fly-in. Budd and Marlene were great hosts. The BH party there was a lot of fun!
I finished an extension to my shop in my hangar that fall and started construction in January 2005. I was working my full-time job in the first 5 years of construction. The second 5 years, during retirement, I had 3 back surgeries which slowed me down a lot. I finished construction in December 2014. I had a DAR inspection on January 2, 2015 and passed. I finished some minor details and had the first flight on March 9, 2015. I got busy flying the 40 hours off and had it completed with several 3 and 4 leg cross-country trips.
I used Stewart Systems covering and paint. I like the products. The covering was fun and very satisfying. The painting was difficult for me until I finally did it the way Dan and Doug Stewart tell you to do it, then it wasn’t that hard. I took the Stewarts covering/painting 3-day class before covering and painting. I had no other covering or painting experience. I have a Lycoming O-540 rebuilt by Bob with low compression pistons. He rates it at 240 HP. I love that engine! It is so smooth and powerful and has a very non-offensive, different sound for people on the ground. That may be attributed to the Larry Vetterman exhausts with mufflers for each side of the engine. The airplane flies so easily on low power, it is a joy to cruise around sight seeing throttled back and enjoy that wonderful panorama, looking over the nose so well and side to side. My wife loves to ride in the airplane due to the great view over the nose and the solid feel in flight.
For cruise I like 17-18 inches of manifold pressure and 2350 RPM. Leaned out at that setting, I get about 135 mph on 9.5 gph (6000-9000 feet msl). The engine, the prop, and I all seem happy at that setting. I also have a Bob tailwheel and gascolator. The tailwheel was an early model and had a bad shimmy. I replaced it with the latest model from Eric Newton. It has a shimmy dampener bolt to control drag and it works great. With no tension there was a minor shimmy. I tightened the bolt too much and had no shimmy but difficult steering. I loosened the bolt a bit and now have no shimmy and good steering.
The airplane is set up for IFR, though I am not currently a proficient IFR pilot. I have a Trutrak EFIS with combined engine monitor, transponder, and PS Engineering EX100 Audio panel with intercom. The Micro Air Com is remotely mounted behind the panel, which also includes a GX60 Apollo Com/IFR GPS, VOR, ILS, Marker Beacons, and VAL INS429.
Custom items include a skylight, a sub panel for engine controls and switches, Stewart fiberglass wing tips, aluminum side panels, Kydex thermoplastic head-liner, flocking surface finish for side panels and headliner, glove box in panel, extended baggage compartment, and auxiliary fuel tanks.
I wanted to maintain the Bearhawk hump back and was able to do so with 1/8 inch Lexan, with minimal distortion of the skylight. The “break” in the shape of the rear portion probably helped with that.
I don’t know if the Stewart wingtips helped in any areas of performance. My Bearhawk is the only one I have ever flown. I am not one to spend a lot of time nailing down accurate numbers. Anything I report would have to be viewed with suspicion! I think the Stewart wingtips may improve low-Power cruise performance.
I really like the airplane, the handling and performance, visibility, cargo doors, and looks. Empty weight is 1547 pounds.