Engineering Change for Bearhawk 4-Place and Patrol

[alaskabearhawk]

Remember, this is not a failure under tension, but compression. Don''t put a compression load on it (i.e.a severe ground loop) and there is nothing to fret about.

[Glenn Patterson]

I agree that it takes something very serious to damage the gear that is well outside the norm. If I remember correctly Pat Fagans BH was just getting off the ground and came down hard with the airplane heeled over to hit on the outside of the tire. The other caught a stump. Bearhawks have been used as "off road" SUV's without the gear being an issue. There is a good number of Bearhawks now flying with excellent reliability and is not fraught with the usual home builder design issues. The engineering design changes are part of the continual improvement process but is not anything that needs to be acted on if it is already built. The Bearhawk is a very well engineered airplane that is evolving with time unlike a certified aircraft.