Source: 2015 Q1 Beartracks, Larry Sullivan
Only four hours in the last six years. That’s it. Since getting my Private Pilot ticket (with tailwheel endorsement) in Nov 2008 I had only 10 hours of flying and only four in the last six years. Despite buying the 4-place Bearhawk, quickbuild kit #98 in 2007, not much was done until the last three years when I’ve been solely focused on completing my project. I’ll accept working a full-time job, trying to remain happily married, and staying in touch with my three young adult children as an adequate excuse for my low flying time.
I knew I was rusty when I rode with my friend in his C150 and felt like turning downwind to base and lining up for final was a huge struggle. My Bearhawk project is nearing completion (really!) this spring and I was struggling with the idea of doing my own first flight. I have a new Lycoming EXP-IO390, an 80-inch constant speed propeller, and a Dynon Skyview glass panel. The J-3 Cub certainly doesn’t compare, so I’ve been thinking about having Tom, a cropduster friend on the airport with 50,000 hours do the first flight and he was quite willing. In addition to all the first flight issues, my engine needs a proper break-in, making the initially testing that much more complicated.
At the same time one of my friends on the airport suggested letting someone else do the first flight was like letting someone else take your wife on your honeymoon! I guess I don’t really look at it quite that way and my ego isn’t that big, but I wanted to feel comfortable and safe doing my flying in the Bearhawk. It was fortuitous that I recently spotted an article in Sport Aviation indicating that Jared Yates has been given FAA approval to provide Bearhawk transition training in his Bearhawk N805TB in Hickory, North Carolina. This was perfect timing for me, so I jumped at the opportunity. I had met Jared a number of times over the last six years at Oshkosh, spoken with him in regards to BearhawkStore.com orders and knew him to be a thoughtful, mild-mannered person with whom I felt very comfortable. I reviewed the syllabus he prepared and it looked perfect for my needs. We looked at our work schedules and I was able to arrange a stopover in Charlotte for four days after visiting my in-laws in Florida.
Jared met me at Charlotte airport in his yellow “Pac-Man” 2003 Ford Focus and he brought me back to Hickory, which is about 45 miles from Charlotte. He was generous enough to offer the car for my use during my four days in Hickory. I also couldn’t beat the price of lodging which was with Danny, a fellow aviator in Hickory who had a spare room. Danny, also a former commercial pilot and CFI, made me feel at home and gave me a set of keys so I could come and go as I pleased.
We started ground school on the way back from Charlotte and reviewed our expectations for the lessons that were to take place. We knew that the next day was going to be windy and rainy and not suitable for flying but we decided to try to get at least an hour or two in right away. We stopped at Danny’s house, made acquaintance, dropped off my bags, and headed right to the airport.
Jared is an experienced commercial pilot who obviously loves flying enough to have built his own Bearhawk in his spare time. With a wife (who actually provided hands-on building help!) and two lovely little girls who like to fly he obviously has this aviation thing figured out. The hanger thing is another story. For those that have not seen photos of Jared’s hanger on his builder’s log website it’s rustic with corrugated metal sides and roof, sliding doors, a dirt floor and gaps that make large mammals laugh at the attempt to exclude them. There are even lawn ornament deer and a few baby walkers. This portion of the hangar description has been redacted at the discretion of the editor. Nevertheless, there was N805TB in good working order. The same plane I had seen packed to the gills in Oshkosh this last summer. His Lycoming 360 engine from Bob Barrows with a 76-inch constant speed propeller and Dynon 180/100 glass panel was as close to my setup as I could hope to fly.
In the air on the first flight Jared let me practice handling maneuvers in order to get a feel for the adverse yaw, sensitive trim and stall characteristics. All very different from what I remember from the Cub. The next day we knew would be a non-flying day with rain in the a.m. and strong winds in the p.m. In fact there was a little rain as we headed back to E40 at the end of our first flight. We agreed to meet Monday for lunch and then do some ground school in the afternoon.
The weather was as advertised on Monday, and after the lunch of enchiladas, chips, and salsa with Danny and Jared’s daughter Felicia we headed to the hanger and sat in lawn chairs in front of a propane heater for ground school. The thing I really appreciated about Jared’s instructional style is that he frequently checked with me to see if he was providing what I felt I needed. De-briefing at the end of the day and planning the next days goals allowed me to prioritize my goals and sleep on them overnight. We took several breaks out of the airplane during actual flying which helped keep me relaxed and better able to focus and less fatigued at the end of the day.
The real work and learning took place on Tuesday when it was calm and 30° F at 8:00am. The wind never got to more than 5 mph all day. It was sunny and scenic. However, I didn’t have much time to enjoy the scenery. Ground handling was the real challenge for me. First was on the expansive grass runway at Shiflet Field (9A9), and when I got a little better, over to the pavement at Hickory (HKY). High-speed taxing with the tail up and transitioning to a stop was initially frustrating and scary. Jared let me experience my directional control mistakes to the degree that he safely could, and had to salvage a few near-premature runway exits. He even let me have a low speed embarrassing ground loop on the pavement.
My confidence was waning but he showed no frustration or concern, which helped to me press on. I finally recalled the “Tap-tap-tap” technique that I was taught in the cub and my inputs became quicker and less prolonged, but I still occasionally put in the wrong input. It wasn’t until I realized that I had not been focusing my vision further down the runway and defining clear visual references with the cowl that I finally began to respond consistently and quickly without thinking about my feet. Getting in the pattern, setting up, and sensing the decent speed with two notches and without flaps seemed relatively easy especially after I retrained my eyes. Overnight I re-lived the difficulties and the successes of the day and realize that the ground control was my main concern.
I was still anxious about it when we met Wednesday morning. Another perfect day allowed us to get right to work. We went to a narrower grass runway at Lower Creek (NC27) about 15 minutes away. On the way, we set up a three-notch-flaps descent and slowed the plane to 50 knots so that I could feel the effect of full flaps prior to landing. NC27 has a ridge of tall trees on one side and a right pattern which was a different feel, but I applied my retrained eyes to these landings and felt much more comfortable. Landing with the extra flaps was even easier because the time in transition from flying to full stop is less, but even wheel landings at 65-70 knots still seemed easier than they had the day before. I seemed to have gained the confidence I had almost lost the day before. Jared even “shed a tear” as he put it with one of my best landings! Little did he know how good that made me feel. I now feel confident I can handle my Bearhawk but I still think, given the new engine and limited experience in similar planes, I may have Tom the crop duster do the first flight for me.
Jared and I de-briefed over lunch and he signed me off for my flight review and successful transition training. Since he was leaving the next day for a work trip, he said he would have me drive his car back to Charlotte and have his wife drop him off there the next day. I was able to move my flight up 12 hours to get back to Wisconsin early and I dropped the “Pac-Man” off at Charlotte long-term parking feeling like for what I had received I had gotten a real bargain!
See a video of some of Larry’s landings at http://youtu.be/qf_8kOV47o4
Editor’s note: The Bearhawk Transition Training Course is designed to help demonstrate Bearhawk-specific characteristics to otherwise current and qualified pilots. Training with a non-current pilot is less cost effective and less than ideal. Fortunately Larry is a fast learner, and almost all of his experience is in tailwheel airplanes. The ideal plan is for prospective transition students to gain currency in any other type of airplane, preferably a tailwheel airplane, before beginning the program.

On Becoming the Official FAA Poster-Children for Messy Hangars
A brief sidebar by Jared Yates
We decided early in our building project to construct a public, online building log. This comes with both benefits and drawbacks of course. The benefit is spreading information to fellow builders about how we did things and what mistakes we made. One drawback is the possibility of disclosing a little bit too much information.
One day a few years back I got an email from an employee of the FAA. The nice lady worked in the safety training office, and she was preparing a PowerPoint presentation about hangar safety. She was looking for an image to use as a bad example– how not to keep a safe and clean hangar. Her Google images search brought her to the photo above, which is has a caption that includes the words “messy hangar.” She was writing to ask for permission to use the photo in her presentation, and I agreed. Obviously keeping a hangar safe and easy to evacuate is important for a flying airplane, but I’d say that it’s less important for a construction project in progress. Nevertheless, she did indeed incorporate the photo into her training materials. One of my local EAA friends was attending a safety seminar a few months later and saw the presentation, and of course immediately recognized our hangar and project. We all got a great laugh out of it, and now we can proudly say that our hangar is not just messy, “it’s officially FAA messy.” Be assured that these days, it is much more organized, and I promise that the concrete deer figures are completely temporary.

Source: 2014 Q4 Beartracks
Do you need to receive dual instruction in a Bearhawk for transition training, but don’t have access to a Bearhawk? Jared Yates has received authorization from the FAA to provide dual instruction in his Bearhawk under a specific list of limited circumstances. Training candidates must be current, tailwheel-qualified pilots.
Read more at bearhawktraining.com, or call 828-308-1543. Continue reading →