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I've recently finished the process to get FAA approval to provide transition training in our Bearhawk. This approval comes with a few major caveats, and it only fills a narrow, but important need.
If you have your own flying Bearhawk and need an instructor, that's easy to fix- just hire your favorite local instructor.
If you are planning to fly a Bearhawk solo but have never flown one before and don't have access to one, that's not so easy to fix. One solution is to find a flying Bearhawk and ride along with its regular pilot, sort of an unofficial transition training. This can work if you can find a willing Bearhawk owner and if your insurance company doesn't require any flight time logged as instruction received. This is the route I took when I was preparing for my first flight.
On the other hand, if your insurance company requires that you have dual time in a Bearhawk, or an official transition training program administered by a flight instructor, that is the hardest problem to fix. The regulations prohibit a Bearhawk owner/instructor from providing instruction in his own Bearhawk, because this would require him to use his airplane for a purpose other than his own recreation end education. My new authorization from the FAA allows me to deviate from that restriction, as long as I comply with all of the requirements that they have specified in the documents.
To summarize those requirements, the transition program is structured with ground and flight lessons, and lists student prerequisites including at least a Private Pilot certificate with a SEL rating and a tailwheel endorsement. The intent is that the student will enter the program as a current and proficient tailwheel pilot who just needs to learn the Bearhawk-specific skills. The intent is not to re-train a student who has not flown since he started building, or to teach tailwheel skills to a pilot who has not flown one before. The authorization includes a provision for using the training to meet the requirements of a flight review also (subject to a few more requirements) but the intent is to give a flight review to a current pilot who happens to be due for one, not to bring a non-current pilot up to flight review standards.
I'm planning on an initial rate of $225 per hour for the airplane and instructor, which is subject to change. That sounds really expensive. It is really expensive! Around where I live, a Champ with an instructor is half of that, and a Sport Cub with an instructor is about $150/hr. The price is impacted by the cost of operating the airplane, the increased insurance premium that the instruction requires, the value of my time, and the risk to the airplane. The high price is also an incentive to encourage students to come prepared and current. This is also adjustable if you need a particular block of hours to satisfy an insurance requirement. I will not have any provisions for renting the airplane to someone who wants to fly it solo, or bring his own instructor. All flights will have to be dual, and with me. This comes from the stipulations of the LODA and my insurance.
About insurance- I have not yet bound the policy that will cover this type of flying. I have obtained a quote, (which by the way, is a premium increase on the order of $800 per year) but there is no need for me to start paying for that coverage until I have someone lined up to use the training program. I'd really rather have a couple of folks lined up before I start the insurance, lest I end up losing money on the whole deal.
The good news is that I have a Bearhawk that is set up well for instruction, and I fly it in a relatively low-risk place with lots of fun airports to use. And while the authorization comes with lots of caveats and restrictions, it is still better than what we had as of yesterday, which was no provision for transition training at all (as far as I know).
If there are any other owner/instructors who have the authorization, please speak up! If there are any would like to obtain the authorization, let me know and I'll send copies of my submission package to make it easier for you.
I welcome questions and comments about how I can make the authorization useful to other Bearhawk folks.
If you have your own flying Bearhawk and need an instructor, that's easy to fix- just hire your favorite local instructor.
If you are planning to fly a Bearhawk solo but have never flown one before and don't have access to one, that's not so easy to fix. One solution is to find a flying Bearhawk and ride along with its regular pilot, sort of an unofficial transition training. This can work if you can find a willing Bearhawk owner and if your insurance company doesn't require any flight time logged as instruction received. This is the route I took when I was preparing for my first flight.
On the other hand, if your insurance company requires that you have dual time in a Bearhawk, or an official transition training program administered by a flight instructor, that is the hardest problem to fix. The regulations prohibit a Bearhawk owner/instructor from providing instruction in his own Bearhawk, because this would require him to use his airplane for a purpose other than his own recreation end education. My new authorization from the FAA allows me to deviate from that restriction, as long as I comply with all of the requirements that they have specified in the documents.
To summarize those requirements, the transition program is structured with ground and flight lessons, and lists student prerequisites including at least a Private Pilot certificate with a SEL rating and a tailwheel endorsement. The intent is that the student will enter the program as a current and proficient tailwheel pilot who just needs to learn the Bearhawk-specific skills. The intent is not to re-train a student who has not flown since he started building, or to teach tailwheel skills to a pilot who has not flown one before. The authorization includes a provision for using the training to meet the requirements of a flight review also (subject to a few more requirements) but the intent is to give a flight review to a current pilot who happens to be due for one, not to bring a non-current pilot up to flight review standards.
I'm planning on an initial rate of $225 per hour for the airplane and instructor, which is subject to change. That sounds really expensive. It is really expensive! Around where I live, a Champ with an instructor is half of that, and a Sport Cub with an instructor is about $150/hr. The price is impacted by the cost of operating the airplane, the increased insurance premium that the instruction requires, the value of my time, and the risk to the airplane. The high price is also an incentive to encourage students to come prepared and current. This is also adjustable if you need a particular block of hours to satisfy an insurance requirement. I will not have any provisions for renting the airplane to someone who wants to fly it solo, or bring his own instructor. All flights will have to be dual, and with me. This comes from the stipulations of the LODA and my insurance.
About insurance- I have not yet bound the policy that will cover this type of flying. I have obtained a quote, (which by the way, is a premium increase on the order of $800 per year) but there is no need for me to start paying for that coverage until I have someone lined up to use the training program. I'd really rather have a couple of folks lined up before I start the insurance, lest I end up losing money on the whole deal.
The good news is that I have a Bearhawk that is set up well for instruction, and I fly it in a relatively low-risk place with lots of fun airports to use. And while the authorization comes with lots of caveats and restrictions, it is still better than what we had as of yesterday, which was no provision for transition training at all (as far as I know).
If there are any other owner/instructors who have the authorization, please speak up! If there are any would like to obtain the authorization, let me know and I'll send copies of my submission package to make it easier for you.
I welcome questions and comments about how I can make the authorization useful to other Bearhawk folks.
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