Source: 2005 Q2 Beartracks
Jan Gutwein in Indiana flew his Quick Build kit Bearhawk for the first time on April 8, 2005. Currently he has only 3 hours of flight time since his flying was cut short by engine problems. Hopefully, the problem is solved and his engine is going back on the airframe at this time. Jan says “I was amazed at how calm I was during that first 2 hour flight. The ground handling is superb. The flying charactoristics seem very predictable so far.” More to come….Update: Jan is up to 14.5 of flight time now. He is climbing out at 85-90 mph and seeing 2000 fpm.
Cruise is 160-165 mph at high rpm IF his airspeed is reading correctly. Stall clean is at 50 mph indicated. Stall with 2 notches of flap is 46 mph. Jan has also landed and stopped in under 300 ft several times with comparable take off distances using max performance technique like holding the brakes until power is high. Oil temps have stabilized at 181 with CHT’s around 400 on the hottest cylinders.



Plans builders George Jensen (plans #26) of Wisconsin has just made the first flight in his Bearhawk.
From George:
“This Bearhawk was built totally by the builder except for the Hartzell Prop. The engine was put together from parts of two separate engines; with new exhaust valves and guides. The fuselage envelope, seat upholstery and rib stitching on tail surfaces was done by Mrs. Jenson. It took 5 days from the first call to pre-inspection and 3 days from first call to FAA inspection. April 5, 2005. Date of first flight: April 9, 2005. Flew the Bearhawk to our EAA meeting and a member, Norman Hanson, was so impressed he ordered plans. Interested parties are invited to stop any time at our home field / 1800 long-lighted Unicom 123.00 (58WI).”
Statistics: 104 gallon fuel capacity, plans built 10” tail wheel, Lycoming 540-A1B5 250HP , 3-blade Hartzell prop off from a Bellanca Viking, 8.50 tires, Plans built fuel caps, Rocky mountain engine monitor built from a kit. 1500 lbs. empty weight.


Bill Cox writes:
Hi Bob,
Good to talk with you last night. #303 is a real joy to fly. The performance is much better than I expected when I started building. You published some numbers when I was about half built that made me think it was going to be faster than I expected. With no strut fairings or wheel pants I’m seeing 150+ mph indicated at 75%. I’m really impressed since it will comfortably fly around at 70. At 125 mph it seems to be burning close to the same gph as the Pacer, but is much more comfortable.
It is getting so wet here the flying may be over for a while until the runway dries out some. I’m at 12 hours and I think most of the bugs are fixed. There wasn’t much, an oil leak and a bad ignition lead. I’ve noticed carb ice several times last week. The conditions were ideal, but I’ve never seen much ice on 4 cylinder Lycomings. I was running low power 45-50%. I have good carb heat system which took care of the problem. Do the 540s ice more easily in your experience?
Bob reponds:
Bill,
The plane looks great. It’s good to hear that it is performing very well.
I do at times pick up carb ice on my O-540 Lyc. also.