Bearhawk STOL mods

[Dave Roberts]

I wouldn’t do any expensive mods to the Bearhawk. Extended wingtips, gap seals on the elevator (that one will create problems with the old style trim tabs),vg’s and bush wheels will get you in and out of any strip that you need to. Spend the rest of your money on av gas and learn how to fly it. You can get $20,000 in mods pretty fast. I can just about guarantee you the guy that spent that 20000 on av gas and practiced will kick your butt on landing and taking off. The Bearhawk is a good airplane and more capable than most pilots. Not that I haven’t toyed with the idea of improving the flaps. But in the end it just doesn’t seem worth it. This thread started out with wanting to land and take off light in 400 to 500’, heavy 700 to 800. A bone stock Bearhawk with a 540 will do that effortlessly.

As far as the Keller flaps go. I talked to the guy that has them on his bearhawk. All said and done that was a $20,000 mod. I can go find a strip a hundred feet longer and buy more Avgas for that. A lower deck angle would be nice, but with 900 hours and over 3000 takeoffs and landings somehow I’ve gotten by without them.

[500AGL]

Maule Flaps :


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[zkelley2]

Ya, and it's really important to remember when we're doing our flight testing, you need to do it at different weights and all the CG extremes.

[schu]

Someone post some maule hinges, I'm about to start on my wings.

[Battson]

Good notes

[whee]

Battson, I’ve been trying to find a Maule locally to look at but no luck yet. Judging by internet pictures, which are significantly lacking in detail, putting Maule style hinges on a BH would be fairly easy. Get after it would ya! 😁

[zkelley2]

Agreed. Mine is for sale every day for that price. I'll even throw in a set of pstol flaps.
I'll build another.

[zkelley2]

The other point I want to reflect on:

Many expert observers speculated that the Bearhawk would run out of elevator authority if slotted flaps were installed. With elevator gap seals and elevator VGs, this was not a problem on this particular machine. This is great news for anyone else wanting to enhance their flaps. I think this is the only real weakness of the Bearhawk family of designs, high nose AOA at landing because the flaps aren't slotted (whereas a Maule's flaps are). Converting to Maule style flap hinges would be an easy and literally bolt-on modification.


Further thought:
This Bearhawk had a stock trim system.
As far as I know, the (former?) owner never thought the plane pitch-sensitive in the cruise, noting that his cruising speed was about 115mph given he liked to run LOP and has 35" tires with a cabane L/G. I suppose a faster cruising plane would become pitch sensitive with those gap seals and elevator VGs installed. I am tempted to install those items.

The bearhawk isn't pitch sensitive unless you're in the back quarter of the cg range. If you're flying around mostly empty like a lot of people do especially for max performance you'd never notice.

[Battson]

The other point I want to reflect on:

Many expert observers speculated that the Bearhawk would run out of elevator authority if slotted flaps were installed. With elevator gap seals and elevator VGs, this was not a problem on this particular machine. This is great news for anyone else wanting to enhance their flaps. I think this is the only real weakness of the Bearhawk family of designs, high nose AOA at landing because the flaps aren't slotted (whereas a Maule's flaps are). Converting to Maule style flap hinges would be an easy and literally bolt-on modification.


Further thought:
This Bearhawk had a stock trim system.
As far as I know, the (former?) owner never thought the plane pitch-sensitive in the cruise, noting that his cruising speed was about 115mph given he liked to run LOP and has 35" tires with a cabane L/G. I suppose a faster cruising plane would become pitch sensitive with those gap seals and elevator VGs installed. I am tempted to install those items.

[Battson]

I don't know if I would sell mine at that price, once the chips were down...
Once you value your time (fair value) the plane owes you a lot of money. You probably couldn't build one for that money if you were paying for skilled labour and all those mods. This leads to a discussion about pricing a custom STOL build with third party labour - probably a different thread!!

[whee]

Your right, no longer listed. Price was $195K. If it is sold, would sure like to know for how much.

I looked at the ad the day it was listed and a few days later the ad was gone. I was stunned. Awesome for the seller if it sold and awesome for the buyer who got a cool airplane.

If there was a buyer that was a day late...I’ll sell ya mine for a deal. Or I’ll build me another and sell it to you in a couple years.😜

[whee]

I’d like to see a buckling calculation on that style cabane vs the current round tube BH shock strut. I’d swag the BH strut is a fair bit stronger. That shock rod is pretty small is is definitely a weak point.

[rodsmith]

Your right, no longer listed. Price was $195K. If it is sold, would sure like to know for how much.

[Utah-Jay]

I looked for the plane on Barnstormers but did not see it. I assume it sold? What was it listed at?

[zkelley2]

A cabane is a lot stronger. Lot more drag to.