Flying to Alaska!

[Helidesigner]

We made it out of Skagway Later yesterday. For those of you not familiar it is at the end of a deep valley on the ocean. The only good way in and out is up the valley. The clouds have to be at 5000 ft MSL or higher to make it through the pass. The forecast Tuesday evening was 8000 scattered. But the next morning it was 3200 ft overcast. It did not lift enough until 5pm. Wednesday we made it to Teslin after clearing Customs at White Horse. We had nice flights today down to Dawson Creek. If you are passing by here definitely stop in. There is a nice place to camp, a diner on the field, and a 24 hour pilot's lounge with couches, wifi, showers, and food!

The pictures below are of our trip up the Knik River to a glacier plateau next to lake George. We did not make it to a beginner sand bar but this 900 ft uncharted dirt strip was almost as good. Check out the Delorme tracking to see the area in Google earth. It is a very cool place. Thanks to Bearhawk Builder Dan Shilling for telling us about it.

[Helidesigner]

Here is an unusual Bearhawk picture. You should be able to figure out what I did. I like the effect.

[whee]

Great trip so far. I can't wait to go myself.

I've got an uncle that lives in Skagway. Hope to make it up there in my BH when it get it done.

[Helidesigner]

I made it back to my home airport yesterday at 8 pm. This trip is one of the best things I have ever done. I will be sorting through pictures this week. I will post a summary of the remainder of my trip and how the Bearhawk performed. In a nutshell the Bearhawk provided exactly what I wanted, good cross country capability (125 ktas at ~9.8 gph) with very slow flight, takeoff, and landing performance.

[Helidesigner]

I went through all my records. I flew 78.4 hours, burned 770 gal of gas and flew over 9000 nm in three weeks and a day. The whole trip was fun but I thought the best part was flying from Anchorage to the Kenai, to Knik glacier, and to Skagway. I was worried we were going to get stuck in Skagway. If you go there have lots of weather margin.

Regarding Bearhawk vs C-180 performance;

I did not get a weight empty figure from my friend's C-180 but I think we had about the same useful load. I did most of my flying at 2450 lbs gross weight. I think he was also close to gross weight on the trip. I could take off in about 70% of the distance as the C-180 used. With my flaperons I was off the ground in less than 450 ft on a warm day, near gross, on a dirt strip. That was with a slow initial power application. He used almost all the 900 ft available at the Knik glacier dirt strip. My climb rate was much faster, maybe about twice his rate if I remained at full power. I usually throttled back to a cruise climb to remain more with him. In cruise I was indicating about 1 to 2 in more manifold pressure for the same true airspeed of 125 ktas. I however would burn about 5% less gas if I leaned it out to 45 deg lean of peak (LOP). I found LOP operation made a big improvement in fuel flow. I have electronic ignition on one side and balanced fuel injectors. I was typically cruising at 2100 RPM and about 22.5 in MP. I found my best gas mileage was at about 8000 ft altitude. I could land shorter than the C-180. It was difficult to tell how much though. I was able to land at the 900 ft dirt strip with moderate breaking. He rolled out to about the same spot but used a little more braking I think. To get a good comparison I should fly his plane sometime. He has offered. I'll try to do that sometime this year.

[Battson]

Great trip Mark - can't believe how many hours you put on the Bear in that time!
I have very similar experiences with our BH compared to the C180, better in terms of STOL operations, but not as slippery in the cruise - needs about 1"Hg more MAP.

I would love to hear from you about your experience with the flaperons, seriously cool modification, I have sent you a PM.

Jonathan