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Hi Everyone,
I am happy to announce that my Bearhawk Patrol N316BP took to the air yesterday for a couple of flights with me at the controls. I am attaching two You Tube videos, one that my took from the taxiway and one from a GoPro camera mounted in the cockpit just behind my left shoulder.
I am proud to say that she flew beautifully and there were no major surprises. I took off from Shade tree airport which is a 2400 foot turf strip with light winds and a fairly clear day. On the first takeoff, I took off gently with no flaps, did a nice gentle climb out at 90 mph to about 3000' agl. staying near the airport for the entire flight. Once I settled down and got the adrenaline to wear off, I did some gentle turns left and right, and checked for any bad manners. None found. I let go of the controls and found that I do not have a heavy wing but do need to keep in a little left rudder at cruise.
Erbman, you are correct, the airspeed indicator vented to the cockpit with no static source is off. In fact according to GPS readings I was cruising about 130 mph and the airspeed indicator said 155 mph, so it indicates about 25 mph too high. It also indicates about 10 mph too high at the bottom end of the speed range. Lesson learned, I have ordered the static ports and will install a static system next weekend.
I did some slow flight with and without flaps and some stalls with and without flaps. With the inaccurate airspeed indicator my stalls clean were 55 mph and with 3 notches of flaps, 51 mph all of which is about 10 mph too high. I will test again with static system installed and let y'all know what I get.
The stalls were so benign that I really wasn't sure that I was really stalling at all. I pulled the throttle to idle and slowed to 70 mph, and then slowly pulled the stick back with the nose slightly above the horizon. If you listen closely in the video, you will hear a howling in the wing air vents that sounds like a stall warning device. Bob says, his Patrol does the same thing. While I was waiting for the stall, I realized that I had stick completely back to the elevator up-stop the nose was level with the horizon and it just kind held there. No nose drop. The ailerons were still effective and I could just ride it that way all I wanted to. I was looking for the usual nose drop with the stall, but didn't find one. It just kind of mushes level and stays there until you release the back pressure and start flying again. I spoke with Bob about this and he said that is pretty normal at the forward CG I was at flying alone with minimal fuel. He said, when I stall with more weight in the back seat, I will see the nose drop more pronounced.
Wow, what a safe airplane this is. I feel like I could actually stall it and bring it all the way to the runway fully stalled, although the landing might be a bit hard.
After the stall testing, I went ahead and just enjoyed the flight, doing some left and right turns with about 30 to 45 degrees of bank and started getting ready for my first landing. Based on the erroneous airspeed indicator, I used 65 mph as my approach speed. As I turned my base leg and started to turn final, I ended up WAY too high. It wasn't coming down like I expected. I put in all four notches of flaps and put it in a full slip, figuring I would never make it but wanted to try anyway. I had already decided that I was probably going to have to go around but she dropped really fast with the slip and full flaps and I was able to make the runway no problem.
After landing, I taxied back with a big smile and lots waves at the airport crowd. Back in the hangar I took the cowling off, and a few key inspection covers and looked for anything amiss. It all looked good. Nothing vibrated loose and no oil leaks.
I liked it so much I went back up a couple of hours later and did it all over again just to verify what I was seeing the first time around.
Engine temps were all good. Oil temp was a little low never getting over 155 F. Oil pressure stayed about 65 psi, highest cylinder temp was 365 F
So basically an uneventful flight and the only squawk is the airspeed indicator. Listen to Erbman guys, install a static system for your airspeed and altimeter, you will thank yourself later.
That's it for now, more reports to come later.
I am happy to announce that my Bearhawk Patrol N316BP took to the air yesterday for a couple of flights with me at the controls. I am attaching two You Tube videos, one that my took from the taxiway and one from a GoPro camera mounted in the cockpit just behind my left shoulder.
I am proud to say that she flew beautifully and there were no major surprises. I took off from Shade tree airport which is a 2400 foot turf strip with light winds and a fairly clear day. On the first takeoff, I took off gently with no flaps, did a nice gentle climb out at 90 mph to about 3000' agl. staying near the airport for the entire flight. Once I settled down and got the adrenaline to wear off, I did some gentle turns left and right, and checked for any bad manners. None found. I let go of the controls and found that I do not have a heavy wing but do need to keep in a little left rudder at cruise.
Erbman, you are correct, the airspeed indicator vented to the cockpit with no static source is off. In fact according to GPS readings I was cruising about 130 mph and the airspeed indicator said 155 mph, so it indicates about 25 mph too high. It also indicates about 10 mph too high at the bottom end of the speed range. Lesson learned, I have ordered the static ports and will install a static system next weekend.
I did some slow flight with and without flaps and some stalls with and without flaps. With the inaccurate airspeed indicator my stalls clean were 55 mph and with 3 notches of flaps, 51 mph all of which is about 10 mph too high. I will test again with static system installed and let y'all know what I get.
The stalls were so benign that I really wasn't sure that I was really stalling at all. I pulled the throttle to idle and slowed to 70 mph, and then slowly pulled the stick back with the nose slightly above the horizon. If you listen closely in the video, you will hear a howling in the wing air vents that sounds like a stall warning device. Bob says, his Patrol does the same thing. While I was waiting for the stall, I realized that I had stick completely back to the elevator up-stop the nose was level with the horizon and it just kind held there. No nose drop. The ailerons were still effective and I could just ride it that way all I wanted to. I was looking for the usual nose drop with the stall, but didn't find one. It just kind of mushes level and stays there until you release the back pressure and start flying again. I spoke with Bob about this and he said that is pretty normal at the forward CG I was at flying alone with minimal fuel. He said, when I stall with more weight in the back seat, I will see the nose drop more pronounced.
Wow, what a safe airplane this is. I feel like I could actually stall it and bring it all the way to the runway fully stalled, although the landing might be a bit hard.
After the stall testing, I went ahead and just enjoyed the flight, doing some left and right turns with about 30 to 45 degrees of bank and started getting ready for my first landing. Based on the erroneous airspeed indicator, I used 65 mph as my approach speed. As I turned my base leg and started to turn final, I ended up WAY too high. It wasn't coming down like I expected. I put in all four notches of flaps and put it in a full slip, figuring I would never make it but wanted to try anyway. I had already decided that I was probably going to have to go around but she dropped really fast with the slip and full flaps and I was able to make the runway no problem.
After landing, I taxied back with a big smile and lots waves at the airport crowd. Back in the hangar I took the cowling off, and a few key inspection covers and looked for anything amiss. It all looked good. Nothing vibrated loose and no oil leaks.
I liked it so much I went back up a couple of hours later and did it all over again just to verify what I was seeing the first time around.
Engine temps were all good. Oil temp was a little low never getting over 155 F. Oil pressure stayed about 65 psi, highest cylinder temp was 365 F
So basically an uneventful flight and the only squawk is the airspeed indicator. Listen to Erbman guys, install a static system for your airspeed and altimeter, you will thank yourself later.
That's it for now, more reports to come later.
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