Source: 2013 Q4 Beartracks, Jared Yates
On October 19th, my wife and daughter and I drove up to Bob’s for his annual fly-in picnic lunch. The weather was great for local flying this year, with a high overcast sky and very light surface winds. Tyson Sawyer flew his 4-place Bearhawk down from New England, and Hatcher Fergusson flew his blue Patrol over from across town. Several Bearhawk pilots drove in, including Roy Glenn and Ray Gabriel and his wife. Long-time builder Wayne Massey was in town with his wife, as was the Hales Landing contingent, including Dan Riffee and Dallas Shell. It was also great to see many new faces that are starting new projects. Hatcher and Tyson both had to leave fairly early, though Tyson had a few minutes to show off the outstanding climb performance of his O-540 equipped Bearhawk on the way out.
Bob flew each of his three airplanes, including his recently-rebuilt prototype Patrol. With his Patrol being back in the air, we had the chance to get a nice shot of all three airplanes in the same spot at the same time. The lunch was great as usual, with plenty to eat and plenty to choose from. I always enjoy visiting with Bob and hearing what projects have been keeping him busy recently. He strikes me as the type of fellow who is always building, designing, or working on something!
N805TB First Flight Report
Source: 2013 Q4 Beartracks, Jared Yates
I’m happy to report that I successfully flew our 4-place Bearhawk, N805TB, for the first time on December 11th, 2013. The flight went very well, with about 30 minutes of circling high over the airport. N805TB started as a quick-build kit from Avipro (now known as Bearhawk Aircraft). We purchased our kit from another builder in 2009 and have somewhere around 1800 hours of build time since then. The engine is a normal-compression Lycoming O-360 that Bob built for us. He estimates that it produces 190HP. The Hartzell prop came off of a 2005 Husky, and has 7666A blades. These blades are a little bit shorter than the usual 80” prop, but the harmonics are such that a dampener is not required, which saves some weight and cost. The instrument panel includes a Dynon D180, D100, and HS34, which connects the Dynons to the Garmin 430 GPS. There’s also a Garmin GTX327 transponder in there.
With so many electric gadgets, I wanted to have a robust electrical system, so I used the architecture from Bob Nuckolls’s Z13/8. The skylight and windows are .060” polycarbonate, and as the in-flight GoPro image exaggerates a little, cockpit visibility is spectacular. The weight per square foot of the polycarbonate is slightly less than that of .032 aluminum. 805TB’s exterior finish is Polyfiber Aerothane, and it looks great from a distance. Let’s just say that by the time I finished with it, I had learned lots about how to make a nice paint job! We chose the scheme for its high contrast and high visibility, so that it will be easier for other planes to see us in the air. 
The empty weight came to 1328. That doesn’t include a few parts that I’d like to add later, such as a floorboard covering, rudder cable guards, and wheel pants. Our home airport is a small grass strip with no good landing options in the event of an engine failure after takeoff. As such, we relocated the airplane a few miles north to the main municipal airport for the first few flights. The Hickory airport was very well suited for final assembly and flight testing, with a pair of nice long runways, a fuel pump, a fire station, and a tower. I thought that the most pressing threats for the first flight would be engine-related, such as high CHTs, or worse, a loss of engine power. Fortunately everything worked out well, with the CHTs very seldom above 400 degrees F. Since the engine is a new overhaul without any test stand time, I planned a first flight of circling the airport, as to facilitate a quick landing if necessary. I climbed to 3000 feet first, and did a few shallow turns to validate the most basic handling characteristics. Then I climbed to 5000 feet and made a few simulated traffic patterns and go-arounds. The elevator trim is very sensitive, such that having it in the wrong place for takeoff makes for a shock. Even with the newer small trim tabs, I’m still only seeing about 1/4 turn of travel throughout the flight envelope (as tested thus far). On subsequent flights I have had the speed up to 130 knots, and without any fairings I’m seeing a level cruise speed of around 100 knots.
On the fourth flight I returned the airplane back to our home airport (left) and was glad to be finished with the relatively expensive second hangar in town. In all the final assembly process took about three weeks longer than it should have, due to delays with getting the polite but understaffed guys from the FSDO to come do the airworthiness inspection. If I had known that it would taken them that long, then obviously a DAR would have been a cheaper option. I’m looking forward to a productive Phase 1 full of data collection and plenty of family adventures in the coming years. My building log (complete with tales of many trial and error learning sessions) is available at http://bearhawkblue.com.
Emergency Field Tire Repair
Source: 2013 Q4 Beartracks, Pat Fagan
Carol and I flew to Lynn Rigg’s Kanab Bearhawk fly-in in October. What a great time we had. It was a small turnout, but of course it was Bearhawk quality people so we had an absolute blast. Lynn hopes to put this on every year and we will certainly plan to attend next year.
On the way home, Scott Williamson and Kevin Deutscher in #509 wanted to hit a backcountry strip. Grand Gulch Mine in AZ was roughly on the way for both of us so we popped in there. Carol and I landed first and it was while maneuvering the airplane to the side of the x-wind strip I discovered we had flatted our tail wheel. I used to carry a complete tail wheel assembly, patch kit, tubes, jack and air pump when out doing this sort of thing, but it’s been a while since I’ve done this sort of thing and I didn’t have anything in the airplane other than a badly assembled tool kit.
We walked down to check out the mine anyway, and on the way back Kevin “McGyver” had a brilliant idea. Since the tail wheel is two wheel halves, why not pack the tire with what ever we could find then bolt the two halves back together. We managed to get enough tools together between my and Scott’s tool kits to get the tire apart. There was an abrasion on the side of the tube about the size of a quarter that looked like the likely suspect. What I was surprised to discover later was that there was a matching abraded patch on the inside of the tire. The chords were worn through and I could almost push my finger through the sidewall. Perhaps the tire was damaged in the wreck 4 years ago which then abraded the tube. Who knows.
We stripped a couple of pillow cases, twined them tightly together, than wrapped the whole sausage with tie down rope. After jamming this log into the tire we bolted the halves back together and had ourselves a serviceable tail wheel. We pushed the plane onto the runway and picked up the tail to align it with the runway to keep from putting any side load on the tire. After a soft field departure, we were on our way home. Back home I wheel landed near my hanger, braking with the tail in the air until the taxi turnoff. I then taxied about 100 yards to our hangar with the tail wheel thumping, but not riding on the rim.
Moral of the story, if you’re going to play in the backcountry, bring a proper tool kit, repair parts, and an out of-the box thinker like Kevin. What a great weekend.
Engine Preheater
Source: 2013 Q4 Beartracks, Russ Erb
This past winter here in Southern California there were several mornings when I wanted to go fly that the air temperature had dropped below freezing, and I was concerned about causing extra wear on the engine from starting it with cold oil. Additionally, I would have to burn extra fuel while idling, waiting for the oil to warm up. I found out that a friend has an oil pan heater on his Cessna 180 that he will plug in the night before for situations like this. I asked him how he made the decision to install an oil pan heater, and he replied it was there when he bought the airplane. After all, it was previously based in Maryland.
Even so, he agreed that it adds less than one pound to the airplane (in my case that moves the cg in a favorable direction anyway) and if it made me feel better, then it was probably worthwhile. It was only $150, which in airplane terms is quite inexpensive.
The heating pad is a peel-and-stick to the bottom of the oil pan, but it requires removing the paint from the oil pan first, and applying pressure to the pad for an extended period of time after installation. This last part was a challenge, since it was too long to hold it in place by hand, and there was a bunch of other stuff in the way. My solution was to take a 2×6 and cut it to match the shape of the pad (which was not flat), and to cut reliefs around the other obstructions. This block was then held in place with a broomstick cut to length. The fuel line fitting into the carburetor conveniently held the broomstick in place. 
Pressure was applied to the broomstick using a small floor jack. Care was used to not apply too much force, stopping when the broomstick started to buckle. To keep the jack from rolling out of position it was placed on a 2×4 so that the wheels were off the floor. The 2×4 appears white because it was wrapped with paper from a previous use.
The heating pad has a thermostat so that it won’t exceed a set temperature. This means you can leave it on overnight without overheating the oil. However, you don’t want to leave it plugged in all of the time, because the warm oil will tend to evaporate the dissolved water, increasing the risk of internal rust and corrosion. Not so bad overnight, but could be bad after many days of being plugged in.
Heath Sneller’s Bearhawk
Source: 2013 Q4 Beartracks, Mark Phillips
Just about all builders I talk to have every intention to keep their plane light. We all know what we have to do to
make that happen. It doesn’t seem like much, but an extra coat of primer here and leather seats here all adds up.
I would bet almost everybody looks at that final weight and thinks that it is a little more than I thought it would be. Heath Sneller has proven with his Bearhawk you can have everything you want in the aircraft and still keep it light.
In 2008 Heath decided he wanted more airplane than he had with his Cessna 172. His Skyhawk was a good airplane but wanted more performance. He knew he needed four seats because he liked to use the airplane to travel with his wife, Sarah and two sons, Cody and Bryce. The 172 was great to have while attending college at the University of North Dakota. After moving away from Grand Forks, ND and working as an airline pilot he knew it was time to trade up. He found a project in Montana, sold his Cessna and drove out west to get the Bearhawk from Don Lorenzen. Plans #143 was back in central Minnesota and work started in the summer of that same year. His property west of the Minneapolis was the shop for the first several years. Sarah obviously backed the project because when I say the project was home it was really home. Heath said that there were airplane parts everywhere. The bathroom even doubled as a storage area for wingtips. The back yard doubled as the paint shop for priming the fuselage. I think he said he even fitted the wings to the fuselage in the yard.
When it came to the power plant, he thought, as many others do, that a Lycoming O-540 (pictured left) would be a good choice. Combing Barnstormers, he found one in Colorado. After another trip west he arrived back home with his engine and mounted it. Pairing this engine with a three bladed Catto prop was surely a huge weight savings measure. The Cattos are wood core, carbon props that are made for you specific to the aircraft/engine combo you are going to install it on. The props are painted to match your color scheme and have a nickel leading edge (pictured below). The project was well on its way when he bought it.
Being started by someone else it was built without the cargo door. The door is a great feature but Heath thinks he will be able to make it work by lining the cargo compartment with a .025 aluminum in a “bath tub” type configuration. He made tie down points on the floor for cargo. This will make it reasonable to throw bags and other items into the back with seats that fold forward. Bob Barrows estimates that eliminating the cargo door saves approximately 30 pounds. Further significant weight savings can be found in the construction of the front and rear seats. Heath used a light weight fabric and sewed the covering for the seats himself (pictured above). The seats are very functional and durable looking while utilizing a light weight fabric.
The panel is simple yet very functional including everything you need for VFR flying. The centerpiece is a Dynon Avionics Flightdek D-180 EFIS. It has all the primary flight instruments as well as up to 16 engine gauges. A docking station for a Garmin 196 GPS installed into the instrument panel makes navigating simple and accurate. A huge weight savings is realized by using a MGL V6 com radio. It is small; in fact it fits into a standard 2 ¼” hole in the panel. It has a built in 4 place intercom and a standby frequency. A Garmin GTX 327 transponder rounds out this smartly arraigned out panel.
Only the fabric covered parts of the exterior portions of the aircraft are painted. He chose Stewart Systems because of its ease of use and lack of harmful chemicals. It is hard to calculate how much of a weight savings this generates. I’m sure it’s substantial. The graphics were made locally and affixed to the aircraft in sections. The airplane was outgrowing its home so it was time to make the move out to the hanger at the Maple Lake, MN airport KMGG. With everything on the airplane the day to weigh in came. The empty weight came in at 1366 lbs. This seems a staggering number for an O-540 Bearhawk. I guess it gives some of us a number to shoot for.
Late in the summer everything was coming together and it was reasonable to expect a first flight before the end of 2013. Heath flew with CFI Dave Tannehill to brush up on flying with the little wheel in back. Heath has recently completed his first flight and will conduct all the flight testing himself. I’m sure the family will be able to enjoy some trips together next year.
Bearhawk Rendezvous at Kanab, Utah
Source: 2013 Q4 Beartracks, Marvin Haught
Cathy Page, aka “Demo Doll”
Definition: Rendezvous – a meeting at an agreed time and place.
Time – September 27. Place- Kanab, Utah.
– “You meet the nicest Bearhawkers flying an RV! (Robert (Skip) & Cate on the way to the fly in)
Remember the definition above, and that you don’t necessarily have to be flying a Bearhawk to spend some quality time with those that do! The inaugural “Bearhawker Rendezvous” was held in Kanab, UT on September 27-29 of 2013. By the definition above and early American tradition, a Rendezvous is by intention a somewhat unstructured event, and is defined by being a “meeting of individuals”. If you know Bearhawkers, they tend to be VERY individual! If you like flying, fellowship, good food, and an interesting location surrounded by challenging places to fly and explore.
Greeting the Fly-In Arrivals – Left to right – Carol (cousin of Dianne), Dianne Riggs, Carol Fagan, Pat Fagan, Randy Sonnier, Lynn Riggs, and Skip Page (Photo by Cathy Page)
Kanab, Utah is just that sort of place. Centered between the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and the Escalante Staircase, there are thousands of sites, geological formations, abandoned and remote runways, parks, and historic places within a day’s travel in any direction. Fly in attendance for this first event was small in quantity but large in quality, with Smokey Bearhawk and his caretakers, the Fagans attending along with Scott Williamson and Kevin Deutscher in Scott’s Bearhawk. And of course, Skip and Cathy Page as stated above.
Lynn Riggs – Photo by Marvin Haught
The Rendezvous was planned and hosted by Lynn Riggs at his boyhood home in Kanab, Utah, where most of the attendees stayed, although some of the more “adventuresome” of the group stayed at Lynn’s ranch about 13 miles from town and up in the mountains. Put Lynn in a cowboy hat and boots, and you would have the reincarnation of the “Marlboro Man” – deliberate, soft spoken and affable. Friday was arrival for most of the group at the Riggs home, which is a historic dwelling constructed by Lynn’s grandfather from locally made brick and quarried stone. The stately home has been meticulously restored by Lynn and his wife Dianne, who operate the home as a vacation rental along with another home,” Muriel’s Place” just down the street. Accommodations were very comfortable, as the group settled in for a wonderful evening of food and fellowship.
The Bearhawks on the way to the Riggs’ Ranch over the Corral pink Sand Dunes State Park- Zion national park in the background. (Photo by Cathy Page)
Saturday’s activities centered around a fly out to take in the local scenery as well as reconnoiter the ranch location from the air. During that fly out, Randy Sonnier, a newcomer to the Bearhawk circle, received his initiation into the Bearhawk community with a ride in the Fagan’s “Smokey Bearhawk”. The infection was complete, as he was observed to have a grin on his face the rest of the day, and has since been unable to refrain from talking incessantly about “Smokey”.
The newly resurrected “Smokey Bearhawk” in flight. Photo by Lynn Riggs
In the afternoon, everyone gathered in town at the Riggs homestead for transportation to the cabin at the ranch, where the evening meal was to be prepared. Upon arrival at the gate to the ranch, the party got started! Transportation to the ranch was an adventure in itself as the last 3 miles or so required a four wheel drive vehicle. Everyone car pooled to the end of the pavement, where all piled in the back of Lynn’s venerable
Chevy ranch truck to be chauffeured by the author over the sand and rocks to the cabin site. Surprisingly, there was very little negative comment as to the skill of the driver or the quality of the ride! The ride back to the cars around midnight was invigorating, to say the least as there was frost in the air!
Upon arrival at the cabin, the majority of the group elected to make the trek to the cliff dwelling site, taking advantage of a beautiful fall day and cool temperatures. The scenery was spectacular and the cliff dwellings in surprisingly good condition, considering their age, as the roofs of the dwellings, made of intricately woven bark and brush and then sealed with a coating of clay, were still in place as an example of the structural detail.As evening fell, the crew gathered around a very welcome fire to partake of cowboy cooking from antique Dutch ovens found in the Riggs basement. The day cooled due to a cold front moving in, so Skip Page and Marvin Haught built a nice fire in the fire ring while cooking a pot of improvised “Cowboy meatballs with veggies” and a second oven of apple dumplings!
Left overs were not a problem! There was debate as to the appetite of the crowd being the result of a rigorous
hike or the skill of the cooks! Everyone attending agreed to meet again next year, with a focus on flights out to explore various local airstrips. Tentative plans were discussed to initially meet at the Kanab airport, then fly out to a remote airstrip selected as a base of operations for camping and day flights to explore the area. Make plans to join us for the next Bearhawk Rendezvous, September 11-14, 2014!
Dutch oven meal prepared by Marvin Haught and Skip while other attendees did a hike to the cliff dwelling ruins (Photo by Cathy Page)
Hikers at the dwellings – Photo by Cathy Page – Left to right, Lynn Riggs, Scott Williamson, Kevin Deutscher, Pat Fagan, Carol Fagan, and Randy Sonnier. (Photo by Lynn Riggs)
Tailwheel Spring Nut Update
Source: 2013 Q3 Beartracks, Russ Erb
Recently I visited Three Sigma to adjust the autopilot and noted the tail dragging a few inches lower than normal, mostly because the tail wheel was suddenly flat.
When I pulled the tail wheel off, I noticed something unusual. The tail wheel assembly was loose on the tail spring, even though the cotter pin showed that the nut had not moved on the attaching bolt. Additionally, the tail spring was loose at the front where it bolts into the fuselage. In both cases the problem was that the paint that was on the tail spring between it and other parts was eroded by the movements under load, and when that paint film was removed it left a gap between parts that made things loose. In the photos you can see where the paint was rubbed off under the washer and between the spring and tail wheel bracket.
However, the key point is that neither of these now loose bolts were apparent as long as they were under load (tail sitting on tail wheel). For those of you who have been flying awhile, I recommend you jack up the back of the airplane so there is no load on the tail wheel and check to see that everything attached to the tail spring is still secure. I mentioned this on the Bearhawk group and three other people confirmed that they fly on rough strips and they have to tighten up the bolts on the tail wheel spring on a regular basis.
Eric Newton stated that Bob Barrows recommends using a locking nut instead of a castle nut on the tail spring just so you can torque it properly without needing to line anything up. He said this is important to prevent shimmy. Hmmm…I’ve had an occasional issue with tail wheel shimmy in the last year that I didn’t have before. Maybe I’ve just solved that problem too.
Bearhawk Designs at Oshkosh 2013
Source: 2013 Q3 Beartracks, Article and Photos by Mark Phillips
Every year it happens, I get home from Oshkosh and go through what I call the post Oshkosh blues. I live in Minnesota so as I am going through the thousands of pictures I took I can’t help but think how soon, the kids will be going back to school and summer will be over. Then I find that one picture that reminds me how great the week was and start thinking of next year.
It truly was a great year. The weather was perfect. Not a morning came where as I was driving in by the north 40 did I see sleeping bags and blankets hanging on wings to dry. According to some EAA numbers attendance was up. High gas prices are not enough to keep people away. This was surely the case as last year 7 Barrows design aircraft were in attendance and this year there were eight. Bearhawks were well represented on awards night; two Bearhawks won awards this year. Georg Himmeroeder (N152GH) and Ted Callahan (N962TD) both won Outstanding Workmanship – kit awards.
The Tuesday BBQ was a success many new friendships were formed and old friends got to pick up right where they left off the last time they were together. I cannot wait until next year to see and catch up with friends and all the great people that make it to the airshow. Sadly as I put this together I can’t help but think how next year will seem somewhat empty with the passing of Paul and others.
Bob had his Bearhawk LSA at the Bearhawk Aircraft booth.
Mark Goldberg’s Patrol was on the line for demo rides.
Georg’s great looking Bearhawk was at the booth, it was an excellent display to show people what can
be done to a Bearhawk.
Russ Erb made it in from CA showing off his new wheel pants with storage. It looked great as usual.
N786RG owned and scratch-built by Ray Gabriel.
This outstanding example was one of two Bearhawks that won awards. Ted Callahan did an awesome job on this aircraft. The judges agreed.
Marks 4-place Bearhawk was also doing demo rides
Philip Johnson had his Bearhawk on the line, but you had to be out early in the week to catch it.
2013 Oshkosh Cookout
Special thanks everyone who came, and to Chris Owens and friends for providing the venue. Next year we’ll have to find another place– we’ve outgrown the campsite, with over 100 participants in 2013!
Owen Smith’s Patrol First Flight
Source: 2013 Q3 Beartracks, Owen Smith
Photo by Harless Brand
The aircraft was built from plans, with the following exceptions. I bought the hydroformed rib package from Avipro and the CNC profiled fuselage tubing from Cartesian Tube in Canada. Construction time was about 3-1/2 years. I expect purchasing the ribs and profiled tubing saved about a year. I used TIG welding throughout and flame stress relieved the welds when completed. The landing gear struts and the engine mount were heat treated up to about RC35 after stress relieving.
I installed an ECI O-375A1A engine and a Hartzell constant speed propeller removed from a Husky. The engine was built with low compression pistons and without any fuel pump. After the engine is broken in I should be able to use 91 octane auto gas, which (out here) contains up to 10% ethanol. The engine is rated at 195 hp, but no doubt makes slightly less with the lower compression ratio. I used a large oil cooler, the one Vans sells for the RV-10. It is mounted on the firewall. In spite of this I did see higher than desired oil temperature on the first flight, about 225-230 F with a 75-80 F OAT.
The aircraft empty weight is 1190 pounds with an empty CG of 15% MAC; just forward of the forward limit. I used an Odyssey battery installed just aft of the baggage bulkhead. The engine mount was fabricated to put the engine as close to the firewall as possible. The limiting factor is the clearance necessary to remove the spin-on oil filter, which places the engine about half an inch forward of the aft-most location specified in the plans. If you do this using a constant speed prop and an aft mounted prop governor, you will have to make a recess in the firewall in order to install or remove the governor. Either that or install a sealed, removable access plate in the firewall. I did the latter. I used a PCU 5000 governor, which requires slightly less clearance than a Woodward, and much less than a Hartzell.
My wing root fairings are a little different than others I’ve seen. They are one piece, flat wraparounds which incorporate the filler box between the flap ends and the fuselage. They look nice and are plenty strong enough for any air loads. The only change you need to use the design is to weld in a couple of threaded bosses into the top longeron aft of the rear spar fitting. I can provide pictures for anyone that is interested. I also have Autocad drawings for virtually all the bits and pieces made from aluminum or steel plate. If you have access to a waterjet cutter, these could save you a lot of time. I would be happy to provide them to builders as long as it’s OK with Bob. I also have paper patterns for the engine baffling adapted from the plans Vans sells for the RV-4. Mine are for an ECI engine but should work with Lycoming O-320s or O-360s with very minor modification. If someone wants to organize these into a blueprint such as Vans sells for the RVs, I would be happy to provide them. I could not find a suitable airbox, so I fabricated one of my own design.
I have only one flight on the aircraft as this is written. I did the first flight with only myself and about 20 gallons of fuel aboard. That put me at 18% MAC; near the forward limit. I had only 28 degrees up elevator available, slightly less than the plans call for. It flew nicely, but needed more up elevator when using flaps. Power off stall speed was 41 KIAS clean. With 4 notches of flaps I ran out of elevator at 34 K IAS. I did try a landing with 4 notches just to see what would happen. I ran out of elevator about a foot from the ground, resulting in a small bounce. Likely with a reasonable amount of fuel the CG will move back enough so that it will stall with full flaps, at least I hope so. If not, I’ll either have to use less flap or change something on the aircraft. The only changes I’m making for the second flight are moving the pushrod attach point on the trim tabs so as to minimize the tab movement and adding some more fuel.