Source: 2016 Q4 Beartracks, Pat Fagan
Last month Carol and I were having breakfast when we received a call from our neighbor advising us that their truck had been stolen from their yard in the middle of the night. It was a 2005 Chevrolet 2500 with a Duramax diesel. Being parked right outside their bedroom window they heard it start up at 2:40 am and the owner ran out-side as it was backing away. He gave chase in his other car and soon had two Sheriff Deputies trying to catch the thief. The owners’ wife even saw the whole parade tear back down the hill past their house but the thief managed to elude capture by tearing out across the desert.
We live in Pearblossom, a very small town in the Mojave Desert. Town residents are scattered about and there is a lot of open territory where a vehicle could be abandoned. The vehicle was stolen at 2:40 in the morning and the owner had been driving all over town and the surrounding area ever since hoping he could spot it. I offered to take him flying in Smokey to search for it and his wife readily agreed to come along.
I had been digging trenches in my yard for an irrigation system so Carol had parked her car outside our gate that night. She had been working with the Sheriff Deputies late that night it a DUI checkpoint and arrived home about an hour before this all happened. That morning I had given her grief for locking her car but I had to eat crow when she pointed out some unusual footprints that approached, and then circled her car, before heading for our neighbor’s house. The same footprints were also visible in their yard. We actually live almost two miles apart from our small town, with only eight homes in our area, so it is highly unusual for someone to be on foot as they pass us by. However, there are some tweakers (meth addicts) who squat on some land farther out in the desert who do pass us by on motorcycles as they ride across the desert to their compound. They are known around town as thieves so our first thought was to look for the truck at their compound.
The squatter’s compound is perhaps 2 miles SE of the end of runway 07 at my home airfield. We departed runway 7 and weren’t even clear of the field when Carol spotted the truck parked in a dry wash a couple hundred yards from the compound. It had been stolen by the tweakers and where they stashed it in the wash it was virtually in-visible from the ground. We circled overhead to see if there was any movement in the area and managed to call/text the Sheriff and alert the husband. I dropped Carol and our neighbor off at the airfield then went back up to ensure that no one drove off before the authorities arrived.
I wish I could say that the lot of them were caught and imprisoned but sadly, such is not the case. Two sheriff deputies arrived and planned to raid the compound once more backup arrived. Resources were stretched extremely thin however due to the wildfires in the area (what else is new) so backup never arrived. The truck was impounded for fingerprints but the neighbor has since retrieved it. Insurance is paying to repair the damage done by the romp through the desert but thanks to Smokey the truck wasn’t stripped and our grateful neighbor didn’t suffer a total loss.

Two Bearhawk LSA First Flights Fall 2016

Source: 2016 Q4 Beartracks

Congratulations to Bruce McElhoe, of Reedley, California on completing his blue Bearhawk LSA. His empty weight came to 821 pounds with a C90, lithium battery for starting only, and Catto prop. He built from a quick-build kit from Bearhawk Aircraft over a period of three and a half years.
The red and white Bearhawk LSA belongs to Bob Way of Alabama. His has an O-200 with a three-blade prop, full electrical system, and MGL avionics.

Bob’s Carbon Fiber Prop and Carbon Fiber Wingtips

Source: 2016 Q4 Beartracks
Lots of exciting things are happening at Bob’s shop. Specifically, things are getting lighter, thanks to more use of carbon fiber.

He has expanded testing on the carbon fiber propellers that he has been making. Readers may remember reports in the last year of Bob testing lots of different props. He found the best performance from the aluminum McCauley prop, which weighs around 22 pounds. Knowing that he could do better with carbon fiber, he developed a process to lay up a carbon prop by hand. The process involves a mold for the front of the prop, and a mold for the back of the prop. He and his composite expert Lauren take turns laying up plies of carbon fiber cloth, around 8 layers at the tip, and perhaps as many as 90 at the hub. They alternate layers and each work on both sides of the prop to help ensure that minor variations in individual technique doesn’t impact the balance of the prop. Once those two layups are done but before they are cured, the two halves are joined for the final cure. The finished product is mostly hollow, except for the last few inches of the blade. As one might expect, the prop requires a fair amount of finish work once it comes out of the mold. Bob has developed a leading edge treatment that is a stainless steel powder mixed with resin, which yields an abrasion-resistant coating that is easily field repaired with a product like JB Weld.
The first prototype has over 200 hours of operation on his Bearhawk LSA, spanning almost two years. The second prop has around 30 hours, and he has a third that is ready to begin testing. He plans to offer the props for sale on a very limited basis, such as 3-4 props per year. The construction process is labor-intensive, and he plans to test/prove each prop with at least 10 hours of operation on his own airplane before shipping. The cost will be necessarily high (expected to be around $1800 per prop) but the total weight is a mere 8 pounds, and the performance is as good as the metal McCauley that he likes. Perfor-mance will be great on any airplane in the 100hp/100mph class, but the prop is specially designed for the Bearhawk LSA. He also plans to develop a similar prop for the 180hp Patrol and 4-Place in the com-ing years, which will weigh less than 15 pounds.
R&B has also expanded to offering carbon fiber wingtips. These wingtips cost a little more than the fiber-glass, but the weight savings is around 1 pound per wingtip. As Bob says, “Sometimes pounds are hard to find.” These tips are made in a female mold, laid up by hand by Lauren, who is also female. The virtue of these and other composite parts from R&B is that they are made with just the right amount of resin. Less experienced builders may have trouble by adding too much resin, increasing weight, or too little, reducing strength. The extra cost is $50 for the LSA and $55 for the Patrol/Model B.
Many builders are interested in the Model B plans for the 4-place. Bob has been working hard on the drawings and a “good share” of them are finished. He hasn’t set a firm deadline, but doesn’t plan to have them available to ship for at least four weeks.
Bob would like to plan a long trip to Idaho in mid-June 2017. He’d plan on spending 3-4 days to get out there, 3-4 days to get back, and 4-6 days of flying around the backcountry. If you’re interested in joining him, please get in touch by phone at 540-473-3661.

Bob’s Fall Travels, 2016

Bob and Diana took a long trip in Bob’s 4-place prototype this fall. They stopped by several small and interesting airports in West Virginia on their way to the Wentworth Aerodrome (WAD) fly-in in New Hampshire. While passing through Pennsylvania, Bob checked in on the Pietenpol he built many years ago, now owned by Larry Knapp.

At the WAD event they met up with Bearhawk owners Tyson Sawyer and Emilie Phillips, and Bearhawk builders Dave and Laura Lenart.

Dave, Bob, and Tyson are in the photo above. Dave and Laura are in front of their red and white Bearhawk. Tyson and Emilie are in front of their white and navy Bearhawk.
The WAD event was a great time. RAF New Hampshire Liaison John Meade, and Massachusetts Liaison Rene Robillard helped organize several optional fly-outs. The Bearhawks went to Post Mills airport (2B9), featuring a great unofficial museum and hot air balloons.

After the WAD event, Bob and Diana flew to Rockland Maine. The Owlhead Museum housed the only moose they saw on the trip (photo above). They had a wonderful time eating lobster and fresh seafood. They stopped by Bob’s home town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and visited with his brother.

Photos from Bob’s Fly-in on October 15, 2016

The weather for Bob’s annual fall picnic was as perfect, and the best it has been in recent memory. There was a good turnout, including the watermelon Bearhawk pictured below. It was delicious and rivet-free.
Some of the Bearhawk folks there included Stephen Murphey, Roy Glenn, Dallas Shell, Dan Riffee, Mike Swain and family, and Jared and Tabitha Yates and kids.

Bob has been using his first shipment of Swift Fuel. The minimum order is 4 barrels, and his first shipment of 7 came to a price of $4.60 per gallon, counting the fuel and shipping to the local freight terminal. Readers who want to do the same will still need some method to get the fuel from the drums to the airplane, but the local tool importers have several pump options. Bob uses a method of applying low-pressure compressed air to the drum, which then forces the fuel up the hose into the airplane. He has also used a hand pump which works but is slow, and an electric pump, which works well but is expensive. Sometimes he siphons fuel from the drum to a 5 gallon can, and then puts the can on the wing and syphons to the tank. The photo to the left shows an electric drum-mounted pump.

LSA Builder Introduction: Sam Scott, Elkin, NC

Source: 2016 Q4 Beartracks

Sam writes: I placed an order for plans in February 2016 and received plans # L-147 shortly thereafter. I spent the next few months studying the plans and reorganizing my workshop to faciliate the build. In August 2016, I started making the form-blocks for the wing and aileron ribs, finishing them within a couple of weekends. I then received a call from the manager of the local airport, asking if I would like to start an aircraft maintenance shop at his airport in Elkin, NC. I jumped at the opportunity and began to settle into my new career as a full-time entrepreneur, putting the LSA project on a short hiatus. I placed my first order for materials on November 5, 2016 and I hope to start building steadily from this point onward. Below is a picture of myself with the completed form blocks for the wing and aileron ribs.

A Photo Guide to Hardware Shopping, Brake Line Edition

Source: 2016 Q4 Beartracks, Jared Yates
Most builders get most of their parts by mail. We’ve all experienced the frustration of halting progress for the need of one more little piece of something. Here’s a guide to help consolidate a shopping list for the brake lines. If you have completed your brake lines and used a different list, add a comment to this article so that other builders can benefit from your knowledge. Comment also if you find this sort of guide helpful and would like to have one for other systems.
We’ll start the tour at the brake caliper and work up to the brake reservoir. Most calipers will have a 1/8 NPT female thread. Install an AN822-4D (1/4 flare -1/8 NPT elbow) at the caliper.

Attach a flexible line of around 12 inches to allow the caliper to move, and on the other end use an AN815-4D (1/4 Flare – 1/4 Flare nipple) to join it to an aluminum line, preferably 5052. Some builders leave a loop of hard aluminum line here, and it seems to last for a long time before it cracks. The movement of the caliper is small, so that is another option.

This 5052 line travels inside the gear leg up to the AN833-4D (bulkhead elbow, Flare-Flare) fitting at the top. Orient the fitting so that the AN924-4D (nut) is inside the gear leg. On the top of that fitting, install another flex line with an approximate length of 12 inches.

At the small aluminum bulkhead piece under the floor at Station B, install an AN832-4D (straight bulk-head Flare-Flare) with another AN924-4D and transition to another hard aluminum line.

Route this line under the pilot’s feet and up towards the firewall, to a parking brake valve if you will be using one. The Matco brand valve is in the picture to the right. It will require converting four 1/8 NPT female holes to four flared lines. These will likely be two AN822s and two AN816s.

If you’ll be skipping the parking brake valve (and its associated weight, parts count, bleeding complications, and leak potential), take the under-foot aluminum line to another AN815-4D (straight nipple Flare – Flare).

For the 4-place, route a flexible line to the output (bottom) of one of the corresponding master cylinders. Route another flexible line from the top of that same master cylinder to the bottom of the corresponding master cylinder on the other side of the cabin.
If you are using the Gerdes type master cylinders that most of us use, you’ll need to adapt their 1/8 NPT female ports to meet the flexible lines. Some folks may find the 45-degree AN832 elbows more convenient, especially for the bottom of the master cylinders. Straight AN816 fittings are also common here, as are 90-degree AN822 fittings, depending on the length of the flexible lines that connect everything up.

As a starting point for a dual brake setup, try two 90 degree fittings at the top of the pilot’s left and right cylinders, two 45 degree fittings at the bottom of those, two straight fittings at the top of the copilot’s cylinders, and two 45 degree fittings at the bottom of those. Your arrangement may vary, and this mostly applies just to the 4-place.
Route flexible lines from the top of the first two brake cylinders to the brake reservoir via an AN834-4D (bulkhead tee) to pass through the firewall.

If you use a Matco reservoir like the one on the left, it will also need an AN816 nipple, a short piece of 5052 line, and corresponding sleeves and nuts.
Here is the shopping list for the brake system as described above, assuming you’ll be using dual brakes and a park-ing brake valve:
AN822-4D (Flare – NPT 90 degree elbow): 6 (calipers x2, master cylinders x2, parking brake x2)
AN823-4D (Flare – NPT 45 degree elbow): 4 (master cylinders x4)
AN816-4D (Flare – NPT Nipple): 5 (master cylinder x2, parking brake x2, bottom of reservoir x1)
AN815-4D (Flare-Flare Nipple): 2 (caliper flex to leg hard line, 1 per side)
AN833-4D (bulkhead elbow, Flare – Flare): 2 (top of gear legs)
AN834-4D (bulkhead tee): 1 (firewall)
AN832-4D (bulkhead nipple Flare-Flare): 2 (station B)
AN924-4D (nut for bulkhead fittings): 5 (2 for the 833s, 2 for the 832s, and one for the 834)
AN819-4D (Sleeve) and AN818-4D (Nut): 21 each
Flexible lines: 10 (determine length for your own situation) (2 for the calipers, 2 for the gear legs, 6 for the master cylinders) Preassembled and pretested lines are available from places like pegasusautoracing.com.
If you’ll not be using the parking brake, eliminate the following:
AN816-4D x2, AN822-4D x2
And add:
AN815-4D x2

Pressing Ribs and Fluting without Pliers

Source: 2016 Beartracks, Chris Owens

When it comes to transforming large sheets of aluminum rectangles into airplane-shaped parts, every builder seems to have a way that works best for them. I think I may have tried them all, or at least some variation of them. But no matter how I tried, I just couldn’t get them to look as nice as a set of factory-built ribs from Mark Goldberg and our great friends at Bearhawk Aircraft. I kept telling myself that there had to be a better way to form wing ribs that would yield consistent results and not induce arthritis along the way.
After a lot of head scratching, YouTube-ing, and following in the foot-steps of those who have forged the trail before me, I adopted a number of different techniques to create a beautifully-crafted set of wing ribs that look as though they could have come from a factory press. I’d like to share the story with you. Much of the process is “the usual”, but the finishing stage brought out the best in them.
It begins with the usual tale of creating rib forms from the master template that comes with the plan set. Mine were from MDF— pretty much by the book if you have Eric Newton’s construction manuals. Trace the pattern on the sheet, rough cut (with an electric sheer, in my case), and stack them up.

I chose to use the router method to make sure that each rib blank was flat and identical. Bolting several of the blanks into the form, predrilling the lightening holes, and cutting off the excess out-side material with the band saw, the ribs were ready for the router. I chose a tall Bosch Model # 85601MC carbide laminate bit that I sourced from Lowes for about $25. At 1/2 inch diameter, 1-1/2 inch cutting length, and with a 1/2 inch shank, the beast can chew through a lot of aluminum at once.

Lather, rinse, repeat several hundred times, and you’ll eventually have yourself a lovely collection of wing ribs. And they’re all uniform and beautiful.

Many of us have made it this far and have these lovely trophies to show for it. But what comes after this stage can make or break you as it is very easy to destroy the time and hard work you have dedicated to these parts. I tried a few different ways to flange lightening holes and flute the edge flanges of my wing ribs, and I really buggered up a lot of parts. The Bob Stick and fluting pliers just weren’t getting me where I personally needed to be. I was not creating straight parts. I’ll spare you the carnage of the war zone photos. But note that it wasn’t pretty.
Fast forward to better days, I’d like to show you a technique I adapted from fellow Bearhawk Patrol builder John Snapp, as well as a Hummelbird builder, that creates beautifully-formed lightening hole flanges, complete with perfectly-spaced flutes and fabulously flat edge-flange surfaces through which one would be eager to drive a rivet.
Starting with the lightening holes, I routed a 45-degree edge around the circumference to allow a place for the rib hoes to stretch into. Armed with a 20-ton Harbor Freight press with an air-over-hydraulic ram installed, a piece of 1/2-inch steel plate, and some “cow mat” from my friend’s dairy barn, the lightening holes were effortlessly pressed into the ribs. You can see by the photo, it’s a precision event, as a retired university Biology Professor, a Dairy Farmer, and a Mechanical Engineer oversee the operation while I stealthily snap a photo. For details on this technique, visit John Snapp’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/n3uw

The lightening holes were the easy part. Just do it several hundred times, and there are a lot of very nicely-flanged openings. The edge flanges are the bits that always ruined parts for me. So I wondered how I was going to make this work better. I started out with some long oak planks that I sourced from the Aviation Supplies aisle at my local Menards, and traced the master wing form onto it. After cutting it to shape with the band saw, sanding it to form with the disc sander, and relieving the edges for bend radius, I drew the lightening hole and rivet locations onto the form board. The flutes go in between the rivet locations, of course. So I chucked up a 1/4-inch straight-cutting bit in my router table, and then I routed a slot into the edge of the form, in between the rivet locations. Then using a sanding block I rounded over the edges of the slots for a smooth transition between the surfaces.

This is an important step, because I am going to using a tool to force the flange surface down into the slot to form the flutes. If the corner isn’t relieved enough, the aluminum will tear as it is being forced down into the slot.
After creating a backer board of the same material, I routed circular holes in the surface to allow for the lightening hole flanges in the ribs from the previous step. I bolted each rib between the two pieces, and then hammered over the flanges with a soft hammer, up until they were about as flat as they could get.

Using the soft hammer and a screwdriver with 1/4-inch shank, I stretched the metal into the fluting slots with a firm tap. It doesn’t take a whole lot, and usually one tap will do the trick on the .025-inch material. It might take two if you are fluting the .032-inch center ribs.

When the ribs come out of the flanging form, they will be a little bit bowed up, since the spring-back of the aluminum keeps it from being perfectly straight. Using a technique that Vans builders have had at their disposal since the dawn of time, I created a flange-bending tool with a 13-degree undercut. Squeezing the flange bit-by-bit with this tool will straighten the flanges up to 90 degrees. It might take a couple of tweaks with some fluting pliers to get them exactly right. As you can see, it works great for nose ribs, center ribs, and others that need fabulously flat edge flanges. I couldn’t be happier with the results!

For greater detail, please check out my forum posts on the subject at http://bearhawkforums.com.

Installing 3000 series Floats

Source: 2016 Q3 Beartracks, Heath Sneller
This summer I mounted straight floats on my airplane. I’ll share my experience in mounting them and maybe cover a few items that haven’t been covered before in previous writings.
A couple summers ago I found a good deal on a nice set of used straight 3000 series floats. They are “Easy Lift Floats” which were made in Canada for experimental airplanes, I believe the company no longer exists but they were in really good shape and had a flat top so a deal was struck.
I had never mounted floats or owned a float plane before so I knew I needed some guidance and called up Curt Malecha who has been flying his Bearhawk for several years on floats. Armed with a camera, tape measure, note book, and level I went and looked at his airplane. Curt was great and let me crawl all over his airplane and answered all my questions.

To start the installation I ordered the aluminum to make the fittings that go from the float struts to the airplane from onlinemetals.com. I then used a table saw with a carbide tipped blade to make the fittings and drilled the bolt holes using a drill press. Next I lifted my airplane using a strap around the engine mount and put a lift under the tail wheel and removed the main landing gear. Then it was time to slide the floats underneath and start bolting the struts on. To get them in the right position I put a chalk line on the floor running from the nose to the tail that was centered in the middle of the airplane. Then I centered the floats left to right on this line. Now was the most critical part of the installation, getting the step of the floats in the right position. To do this I dropped a plumb bob from the center of the airplane CG envelope which I had marked with tape on the bottom of each wing and aligned it with the CG of floats which I had already marked on the floats. After lining this up I slid the floats forward one inch and set the wing angle of attack to 4 degrees and started cutting and drilling the struts to fit from the airplane to the floats. Note: to find the CG of the floats I installed the spreader bars and water rudders and then rolled the floats on a couple pieces of pipe until I found the balance point and then marked where this point was on the floats. The next thing to do was to install the boarding steps which I put where I thought they would work well and are bolted to the float struts.

Now it was time to remove the tail wheel and install a fin on the tail. Curt told me he tried flying without one and wouldn’t do it again, this was all the information I needed so I copied what he did. This included bolting a ¼” x 1” x 30 “ piece of aluminum with Adel clamps to the tail hold grab handles and then bolting the front of the fin to this and the rear of the fin to the tail spring clamp mount. I was unsure about the size of the fin I needed so I used approximately the same size and shape as Curt’s and made one out of ½” marine plywood then primed and painted it to match the airplane. The reason for using wood is that it is easy to change the size and shape and once you get this figured out you can make a permanent lighter one out of tubing and fabric. After this it was time to make and rig the water rudder cables which was fairly straight forward and easy to do.
The final step was the weight and balance. After draining all of the useable fuel and placing some borrowed scales under the floats I was anxious to see what it was. Well it turned out pretty good, my new empty weight is 1,636lbs and the new CG is 11.4”. My CG stayed exactly the same as it is on wheels and I have a useful load on floats of 1,064lbs. (Note that the Max Gross weight can increase to 2700 pounds on floats)
Now came the real test, flying it. It flies just like it did before and handles just fine in the water, I did not have to make any changes to the rigging or to the added fin. It did slow down around 10 mph though. I did not have my float plane rating before this project and was able to do my training and take my check ride in the airplane which was kind of neat. As far as taking off I have found that setting the flaps to 3 notches provides the shortest takeoffs. I tried takeoffs with no flaps and adding flaps after you get on the step and none of which were as short as just setting and leaving in 3 notches from the beginning. I talked to Curt to see what he uses and he too uses this technique. One thing I have found out flying on floats with a Lycoming 0-540 is the CHT’s run 20-30 degrees warmer. I do have some things that I could change with my engine baffles to try and bring them down a little. The big question, how short does it take off? Well short enough, with my family of 4 and almost full tanks on a 85 degree day and little or no wind I can get it off in 15-18 seconds. I live on a small lake that’s around 3,000ft from shore to shore and with the whole family it’s not even remotely an issue. One item that I was unsure about was my prop. It’s a fixed pitch Catto 3 blade that I’ve used on wheels for several years and I thought I would try flying on floats with it before trying something different, so far it has given decent performance and I’m just going to keep using it for both wheels and floats.
This year my goal was to do the initial installation, test it out, and give my family some rides which I did. Next year the goal is to start taking some fishing trips up north. Following Curt Malecha’s advice and techniques I was able to build a float plane that worked right away and one that will provide good performance for years to come.