Bearhawk wins New Zealand STOL Championship

[Battson]

For those still unconvinced of the Bearhawk's STOL performance, here's another data point:

S.T.O.L. Heavy Touring Class Results, 2019

ZK-NJB Bearhawk 4-place
First take-off 24.6m (76ft) Second take-off 27m (83ft)
First landing 56.8m (176ft) Second landding 49.5m (153ft)

Total combined distance shortest take-off and landing 74.1m (229ft) [Winner]

The second place was taken by a good friend who ably pilots a STOL-modified Maule M6-235. The Bearhawk won by about 40 foot.

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[Bdflies]

Congratulations Mr. Battson! You’re absolutely correct that this performance confirms beyond question the STOL abilities of the Bearhawk. Also confirmed, is the skill of the pilot! Congratulations and Well Done!

BILL

[whee]

What’s with those long landings Jono? 😁

Great job man!

[AKKen07]

Big high five!

[Nev]

Great skills !

[quadra]

like a BOSS!! congratulations!

[Battson]

What’s with those long landings Jono? 😁

Great job man!

Yeah I see what you mean Jon, too many "d"s


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[svyolo]

Awesome job. The new wingtips look great as well.

[BAnton]

Do you have a good comparison of performance with & without the VGs?

[Mark Goldberg]

Congratulation Jonathan. Very cool. I had seen some video of the Zenith planes doing their thing at the competition. But did not know you won the 4 place category. Not surprising considering the plane and how good you are flying it. Mark

[Ray Strickland]

Great plane, great pics, great piloting! Congratulations.

[whee]

Great pics! Really impressive. I hope there is a video coming.

Any thoughts on what could be done to further increase performance? Would be nice to cut that landing roll down some.

Also, It looks warm there and I need some BH specific STOL training...

[svyolo]

Jonathon;
I don't know your experience before your BH. But you have shared your experience with your BH. In the last few years you have gone to bigger and bigger tires, and rougher LZ's. Bigger and lower pressure tires introduce another natural frequeny to the suspension tuning. How does the standard suspension, from a kit, handle it? Do you wish for more damping, or less?

[way_up_north]

Well done!

....since there is no video.... I was wondering what method you used to accomplish this....flaps up...pick up speed and dump the flaps to do a leap off the ground? or just elevator or combination?

I had some other questions about your flap cover fix/modification that I`ll post in safety area that came to mind as I saw your STOL post....

https://bearhawkforums.com/forum/safety/18006-single-flap-locked-down-hinge-pocket-cover-jam

[Mark Goldberg]

Jonathan - the numbers you got were really good. I am curious about surface wind conditions. Did you have a good headwind to achieve those numbers? Mark

[Bdflies]

I was waiting for someone to throw this out, but I didn’t expect it would be Mark!!😎

Bill

[Mark Goldberg]

At the Valdez competition there is always a good wind off the ocean that reduces the numbers. That is what I have been told by the Alaskans. Mark

[Battson]

Yes there was some wind, there is usually a sea breeze here too. It was not unusually strong.