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After a bunch off tricky off airport landings, I noticed we picked up some more significant damage than usual. I thought I would share it.
I am guessing that it happened because of higher landing speeds due to very light tailwinds, combined with a tail-low attitude as I try to minimise airspeed at touchdown, resulting in a bigger grade of rock making it high enough to contact the stabiliser. We had no choice on the tailwind, as we visited a number of short one-way spots (about 300ft long), which actually pushed the machine right to the limits of landing performance due to the tailwind component.
As you can see, the stone has noticeably dented the 4130 steel, as well as cutting the fabric. I am guessing the stone was probably about the size of a ping-pong ball.
It was an interesting day's flying. I found a couple of situations where the Bearhawk's fantastic power to weight ratio left me with a less-than-ideal margin of safety during take-off. I think is was mostly shifty winds and a soft draggy surface which caused the take-off roll to lengthen. I am certain I learned a few valuable lessons that day, which are going to stick with me, like the dent in the stabiliser. Getting close to the limits of performance without much margin for error is a pretty uncomfortable, when you're flying a plane you've poured a couple of thousand hours work into!
On the positive side, I feel like I have finally started to reach a level of competence where I can land about as short as I can take-off, given certain environments with a light-to-moderate load on board (I have the heavy -540 engine). Lately I am thinking 260hp is exactly the right amount of power for the backcountry
Either that, or I've sucked some river sands into the engine and lost a bunch of power!
I am guessing that it happened because of higher landing speeds due to very light tailwinds, combined with a tail-low attitude as I try to minimise airspeed at touchdown, resulting in a bigger grade of rock making it high enough to contact the stabiliser. We had no choice on the tailwind, as we visited a number of short one-way spots (about 300ft long), which actually pushed the machine right to the limits of landing performance due to the tailwind component.
As you can see, the stone has noticeably dented the 4130 steel, as well as cutting the fabric. I am guessing the stone was probably about the size of a ping-pong ball.
It was an interesting day's flying. I found a couple of situations where the Bearhawk's fantastic power to weight ratio left me with a less-than-ideal margin of safety during take-off. I think is was mostly shifty winds and a soft draggy surface which caused the take-off roll to lengthen. I am certain I learned a few valuable lessons that day, which are going to stick with me, like the dent in the stabiliser. Getting close to the limits of performance without much margin for error is a pretty uncomfortable, when you're flying a plane you've poured a couple of thousand hours work into!
On the positive side, I feel like I have finally started to reach a level of competence where I can land about as short as I can take-off, given certain environments with a light-to-moderate load on board (I have the heavy -540 engine). Lately I am thinking 260hp is exactly the right amount of power for the backcountry
Either that, or I've sucked some river sands into the engine and lost a bunch of power!
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