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After Oshkosh, me and my family drove to North Carolina to receive transition training from Jared, due to my insurance requirements. Jared is a great teacher, and the transition training completion certificate saved me about $1500/yr for the first year in insurance premiums, so really it pays for itself. Once we got back from doing that, I felt that the airplane was ready for first flight. I had spent most of the time between getting my airworthiness certificate and Oshkosh putting all the little pieces and bits on the airplane, and finishing up a lot of little details that weren't required for the AWC. For those of you getting close to scheduling your DAR, don't let perfect be the enemy of the inspection. For me, I didn't have the cowl fitting properly yet, I still don't have all the fairings on, etc. but our DAR’s are more concerned with safety critical areas of the airplane, it can fly without fairings or paint.
For the first flight, the plan was to takeoff, climb above the airport and circle for as long as my nerves could stand. There's various opinions about how long first flight should be, but having done one other first flight, I knew that 5 minutes feels like an hour, so if everything was going fine, it would probably end up being about 30 minutes or so. I did a thorough preflight, and rolled the airplane out of the hangar, got in and started up. My friend was going to monitor on the radio, and another friend was going to fly nearby the airport to keep me company.
After taxiing to the runup area, I noticed the first problem: the mag drop was no good on the right mag, and the Dynon clearly showed EGT's and CHT's falling off when on the right mag for cylinder #4. Fouled spark plug. I initially tried to burn it off using the usual technique of high power, lean mixture, but my CHT's started climbing to a level that I wasn't comfortable with on a brand new engine not broken in yet. So, sad-taxi back to the hangar. I removed the spark plug, and there was a fine filament of lead connecting the electodes. Once reinstalled, time to try again.
This time, the runup seemed normal, except my prop only barely wanted to cycle, so I pushed the RPM's higher, to around 2200 RPM's. This seemed a bit high, but I figured this was due to the fact that perhaps there were still places in the oil system that hadn't gotten all the bubbles out or some other vague reason why that could be happening. All else seeming normal, I elected to do the flight.
I taxied to the runway, applied full power and the airplane leaped off the ground! The wind that day was ~12kts, but straight down the runway. When I had trained with Jared, there had been almost no wind the entire time. We have a displaced threshold, and it felt like I was off before the numbers. So far so good. As I recover my senses, on the upwind, I look over at some blaring alarm. It's my RPM readout, and it shows the engine is doing ~4100 RPM. That's not right... I immediately pull power back, but the controls also feel heavier than what Jared's 1400hr Bearhawk feels like, so now I'm scared…
The airplane is able to climb and turn and performs amazing even at 75kts, and half engine power. But my RPM's still show something like 3500 RPM's. Some thought process somewhere in my brain is saying this doesn't add up, but I can't think of anything in the moment, so I fly a downwind, and immediately come in to land.
With the 12kts headwind, the landing is probably the shortest I have ever done. All of my tailwheel time is in RV's, mostly an RV-6 I owned for a couple years. In that airplane, it's common practice that after the tailwheel touches, you hold the stick back to "pin" it to the runway, as there is a small risk you can nose over or loose TW steering from the tail lifting up. I had ingrained this habit quite thoroughly, and Jared tried to remove it as much as possible during our transition training. Unfortunately, in the moment, all training went out the brain and habit kicked in. The landing was perfectly smooth and straight down the runway, but since I was holding the stick back, the extra downward pressure flexed the leaf spring TW gear I have. I felt the TW bounce 3-5 times, each time sending the tail back in the air. I finally remembered my training, and released the back pressure, and everything settled down. I taxied back to the hangar to assess my newfound problems and calm my nerves. But, no matter what, for better or worse, first flight had been accomplished, and the airplane was undamaged, except a nagging feeling I had ruined my engine by running it at 4100RPM.
Back at the hangar, I started the process of assessing what had happened, and started looking over the plane for anything that had changed, even though the flight had been brief. The first thing I noticed was that the TW chains were both hanging free from the steering horn on the tailwheel...Jared had mentioned it's best to safety wire those, and I had fully intended to upon returning from NC, but obviously it had gotten overlooked. The great thing about the BH is that the rudder authority is such that on landing and rollout, you probably don't need TW steering anyway. Taxiing back the hangar did require a few brake taps, but this wasn't unusual for me anyway. So, add to it my punch list to safety wire the chains this time, like I should have done in the first place. Now to the problem of the RPMs.
It may seem obvious to everyone, but for some reason I had just assumed that the Dynon Skyview HDX system was just setup correctly, and during engine testing and taxiing, the RPM's seemed "ok", and I wasn't used to flying behind a 6 cylinder, so the sound didn't clue me in that they were off by 0.5 times. A quick internet search led to forum postings about the pulse/rev of the RPM sensor and how it defaults to 1.0, and you need to change it to your engine/tach sensor combo. Of course! Mine was set to the default, for a 4-cylinder engine, but I have the O-540, and it should be 1.5. A quick calculation shows that means I never exceeded 2750 RPM on takeoff. Crisis averted! My sensory overloaded brain couldn't figure that out in the moment, beyond the feeling of "can a Lycoming even DO 4100RPM?" while in the air. Add it to the punch list to change the value. The next thing I noticed was that I was missing a fuel cap. I had researched the fuel cap problem here in the forums, and knew that they needed to be tight, and I had also applied "The New Zealand mod" (thanks Nev). Apparently, I hadn't gotten it tight enough on the preflight, and most likely the airplane turning had pumped the cap out like a cork, so it's somewhere in the downwind of our airport
I stole one from my aux tank for now, and speed taped over the aux tank filler until the new ones come in. Add to the punch list to make a tool to get it actually tight... The rest of the data that I couldn't comprehend inflight was easy enough to parse using online tools that evening at home with the exported data, and added several more things to the punch list.
Two days later, I did what I have been telling people is 2nd first flight, and things went well, except my nerves were much more calm, and my engine was still running very hot (not broken in yet), so I had to carefully manage power settings to keep CHT's below a level to prevent glazing. I have since done 2 more flights, all rather short as I find things to fix, and to analyze data. The most recent flight, the CHT's seemed to be dropping into an acceptable level, after several high power runs, then power to cool, then more power runs. I think the rings are starting to seat, and the temps seem to be averaging about 20-30's degrees cooler. All things that are expected on a new airplane, and trending in the right direction.
So, in summary, N789WM had its first flight on August 5th, 2025 and became a real airplane. I had only ever done one other first flight, but I am not sure you ever get past the nerves and exhilaration of a first flight. I learned several things, and I hope if I do more of them, I can apply the lessons from this one. I will try to list some things that come to mind:
Expectation Bias: the prop setting was a major factor in scaring me, and making me essentially abort my first flight plans. I was familiar with the idea that some people turn off alarms or warning on their EFIS’s for first flight because they can be wrong, misconfigured, or distracting, but the RPM seemed critical, and I felt I didn’t have time to figure it out before the engine exploded, so elected to abort, fly the pattern and immediately land. All my previous engine runs the RPM values seemed “off” in a way, but I chalked it up to me just not being familiar with the airplane and engine, and it “sounded about right for that RPM number”. I should have listened to my gut and double checked it.
Punch list: It’s important to keep a punch list during the build, and after, and perhaps forever with an airplane. I had neglected to put the TW chain safety wire task on the punch list, and then it got overlooked. Thankfully, no harm was done, but I learned if it’s not on the list, I will probably forget. This implies that we should really build a POH for our airplanes, and have a good checklist for preflight, especially if it ever sold or passed on someday.
Always fly the airplane: I feel like I did this well, even with sensory overload of information and nerves on a first flight. The landing was actually one of my better ones, except the tailwheel bouncing.
Make a better plan for first flight: I really didn’t have a solid written plan for first flight. There are the EAA FTM cards, and suggestions I had gathered from various advisors, but I feel like next time, I want to chair fly as many possible “happy-path” deviations as possible: Engine stumbles on takeoff, what to do? Screens go dark, what next? Prop fails to govern, what now? Seat slides back, plan? Etc etc. This would have probably prepared me mentally better for the first flight.
I feel like many of the first flight hours can be very stressful, so I try to interleave that with something fun. My family agreed that the airplane needed something to decorate it a bit, since right now it is painted all white, so I sat down with the CNC machine and made some vinyl stickers, in addition to the gas cap tightening tool I designed.
I am looking forward to seeing the other Bearhawkers out there, have fun!
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For the first flight, the plan was to takeoff, climb above the airport and circle for as long as my nerves could stand. There's various opinions about how long first flight should be, but having done one other first flight, I knew that 5 minutes feels like an hour, so if everything was going fine, it would probably end up being about 30 minutes or so. I did a thorough preflight, and rolled the airplane out of the hangar, got in and started up. My friend was going to monitor on the radio, and another friend was going to fly nearby the airport to keep me company.
After taxiing to the runup area, I noticed the first problem: the mag drop was no good on the right mag, and the Dynon clearly showed EGT's and CHT's falling off when on the right mag for cylinder #4. Fouled spark plug. I initially tried to burn it off using the usual technique of high power, lean mixture, but my CHT's started climbing to a level that I wasn't comfortable with on a brand new engine not broken in yet. So, sad-taxi back to the hangar. I removed the spark plug, and there was a fine filament of lead connecting the electodes. Once reinstalled, time to try again.
This time, the runup seemed normal, except my prop only barely wanted to cycle, so I pushed the RPM's higher, to around 2200 RPM's. This seemed a bit high, but I figured this was due to the fact that perhaps there were still places in the oil system that hadn't gotten all the bubbles out or some other vague reason why that could be happening. All else seeming normal, I elected to do the flight.
I taxied to the runway, applied full power and the airplane leaped off the ground! The wind that day was ~12kts, but straight down the runway. When I had trained with Jared, there had been almost no wind the entire time. We have a displaced threshold, and it felt like I was off before the numbers. So far so good. As I recover my senses, on the upwind, I look over at some blaring alarm. It's my RPM readout, and it shows the engine is doing ~4100 RPM. That's not right... I immediately pull power back, but the controls also feel heavier than what Jared's 1400hr Bearhawk feels like, so now I'm scared…
The airplane is able to climb and turn and performs amazing even at 75kts, and half engine power. But my RPM's still show something like 3500 RPM's. Some thought process somewhere in my brain is saying this doesn't add up, but I can't think of anything in the moment, so I fly a downwind, and immediately come in to land.
With the 12kts headwind, the landing is probably the shortest I have ever done. All of my tailwheel time is in RV's, mostly an RV-6 I owned for a couple years. In that airplane, it's common practice that after the tailwheel touches, you hold the stick back to "pin" it to the runway, as there is a small risk you can nose over or loose TW steering from the tail lifting up. I had ingrained this habit quite thoroughly, and Jared tried to remove it as much as possible during our transition training. Unfortunately, in the moment, all training went out the brain and habit kicked in. The landing was perfectly smooth and straight down the runway, but since I was holding the stick back, the extra downward pressure flexed the leaf spring TW gear I have. I felt the TW bounce 3-5 times, each time sending the tail back in the air. I finally remembered my training, and released the back pressure, and everything settled down. I taxied back to the hangar to assess my newfound problems and calm my nerves. But, no matter what, for better or worse, first flight had been accomplished, and the airplane was undamaged, except a nagging feeling I had ruined my engine by running it at 4100RPM.
Back at the hangar, I started the process of assessing what had happened, and started looking over the plane for anything that had changed, even though the flight had been brief. The first thing I noticed was that the TW chains were both hanging free from the steering horn on the tailwheel...Jared had mentioned it's best to safety wire those, and I had fully intended to upon returning from NC, but obviously it had gotten overlooked. The great thing about the BH is that the rudder authority is such that on landing and rollout, you probably don't need TW steering anyway. Taxiing back the hangar did require a few brake taps, but this wasn't unusual for me anyway. So, add to it my punch list to safety wire the chains this time, like I should have done in the first place. Now to the problem of the RPMs.
It may seem obvious to everyone, but for some reason I had just assumed that the Dynon Skyview HDX system was just setup correctly, and during engine testing and taxiing, the RPM's seemed "ok", and I wasn't used to flying behind a 6 cylinder, so the sound didn't clue me in that they were off by 0.5 times. A quick internet search led to forum postings about the pulse/rev of the RPM sensor and how it defaults to 1.0, and you need to change it to your engine/tach sensor combo. Of course! Mine was set to the default, for a 4-cylinder engine, but I have the O-540, and it should be 1.5. A quick calculation shows that means I never exceeded 2750 RPM on takeoff. Crisis averted! My sensory overloaded brain couldn't figure that out in the moment, beyond the feeling of "can a Lycoming even DO 4100RPM?" while in the air. Add it to the punch list to change the value. The next thing I noticed was that I was missing a fuel cap. I had researched the fuel cap problem here in the forums, and knew that they needed to be tight, and I had also applied "The New Zealand mod" (thanks Nev). Apparently, I hadn't gotten it tight enough on the preflight, and most likely the airplane turning had pumped the cap out like a cork, so it's somewhere in the downwind of our airport
I stole one from my aux tank for now, and speed taped over the aux tank filler until the new ones come in. Add to the punch list to make a tool to get it actually tight... The rest of the data that I couldn't comprehend inflight was easy enough to parse using online tools that evening at home with the exported data, and added several more things to the punch list.Two days later, I did what I have been telling people is 2nd first flight, and things went well, except my nerves were much more calm, and my engine was still running very hot (not broken in yet), so I had to carefully manage power settings to keep CHT's below a level to prevent glazing. I have since done 2 more flights, all rather short as I find things to fix, and to analyze data. The most recent flight, the CHT's seemed to be dropping into an acceptable level, after several high power runs, then power to cool, then more power runs. I think the rings are starting to seat, and the temps seem to be averaging about 20-30's degrees cooler. All things that are expected on a new airplane, and trending in the right direction.
So, in summary, N789WM had its first flight on August 5th, 2025 and became a real airplane. I had only ever done one other first flight, but I am not sure you ever get past the nerves and exhilaration of a first flight. I learned several things, and I hope if I do more of them, I can apply the lessons from this one. I will try to list some things that come to mind:
Expectation Bias: the prop setting was a major factor in scaring me, and making me essentially abort my first flight plans. I was familiar with the idea that some people turn off alarms or warning on their EFIS’s for first flight because they can be wrong, misconfigured, or distracting, but the RPM seemed critical, and I felt I didn’t have time to figure it out before the engine exploded, so elected to abort, fly the pattern and immediately land. All my previous engine runs the RPM values seemed “off” in a way, but I chalked it up to me just not being familiar with the airplane and engine, and it “sounded about right for that RPM number”. I should have listened to my gut and double checked it.
Punch list: It’s important to keep a punch list during the build, and after, and perhaps forever with an airplane. I had neglected to put the TW chain safety wire task on the punch list, and then it got overlooked. Thankfully, no harm was done, but I learned if it’s not on the list, I will probably forget. This implies that we should really build a POH for our airplanes, and have a good checklist for preflight, especially if it ever sold or passed on someday.
Always fly the airplane: I feel like I did this well, even with sensory overload of information and nerves on a first flight. The landing was actually one of my better ones, except the tailwheel bouncing.
Make a better plan for first flight: I really didn’t have a solid written plan for first flight. There are the EAA FTM cards, and suggestions I had gathered from various advisors, but I feel like next time, I want to chair fly as many possible “happy-path” deviations as possible: Engine stumbles on takeoff, what to do? Screens go dark, what next? Prop fails to govern, what now? Seat slides back, plan? Etc etc. This would have probably prepared me mentally better for the first flight.
I feel like many of the first flight hours can be very stressful, so I try to interleave that with something fun. My family agreed that the airplane needed something to decorate it a bit, since right now it is painted all white, so I sat down with the CNC machine and made some vinyl stickers, in addition to the gas cap tightening tool I designed.
I am looking forward to seeing the other Bearhawkers out there, have fun!
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