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Bearhawk Plans # 1217 started its construction journey 11 years, 8 moves, and 4 kids ago and finally took to the sky today under the identity N27AZ.
The details:
- Basic fuselage was started from a VR3 kit (TIG welded, not by me). The rest of it was gas welded by me.
- Wings are scratch built with 2x 20 gal integral aux tanks for a total of 90 gal of gas.
- Landing gear, main fuel tanks, horizontal tail feathers, seats, cargo doors, engine mount, aileron hinge brackets, and a few other misc items are either new or pre-owned AviPro parts.
- O-540-A1D5 is turning a Hartzell 82" prop. GRT EFIS.
- In flight test configuration (front seats only, no upholstery, cushions, or carpet) the empty weight is 1434 lbs. At first, I thought the scales were wrong so I used a different set and got 1432 lbs.
- Things that made it lighter: Oratex fabric (and interior), no seat cushions, minimal avionics, integral aux tanks, lightweight fuselage stringers,
- Things that made it heavier: seaplane doors, 3rd row windows and additional floor in extended baggage area, larger 2nd row windows, skylight, integral aux tanks, full suite of interior and exterior lights
- First year insurance was ~$5k underwritten by Starr Aviation. They didn't require me to have any previous time in a Bearhawk and the first flight was covered.
First flight squawks:
- Heavy right wing (Plenty of forum advice on solving this)
- CHTs would not allow me to reach 75% power without exceeding 425F (I'm told by Mike--Bob's co-worker--that this should become less of an issue after running the engine a bit)
- Upon landing, right tank appeared full while left tank indicated -5 gal. After sitting on the ground, this mostly evened out.
- The end plate on my temporary aluminum wingtips started coming off at the leading edge. I plan to trim this part off and re-rivet them on.
-Nic
image_11648.jpg
20220422_165352.jpg
The details:
- Basic fuselage was started from a VR3 kit (TIG welded, not by me). The rest of it was gas welded by me.
- Wings are scratch built with 2x 20 gal integral aux tanks for a total of 90 gal of gas.
- Landing gear, main fuel tanks, horizontal tail feathers, seats, cargo doors, engine mount, aileron hinge brackets, and a few other misc items are either new or pre-owned AviPro parts.
- O-540-A1D5 is turning a Hartzell 82" prop. GRT EFIS.
- In flight test configuration (front seats only, no upholstery, cushions, or carpet) the empty weight is 1434 lbs. At first, I thought the scales were wrong so I used a different set and got 1432 lbs.
- Things that made it lighter: Oratex fabric (and interior), no seat cushions, minimal avionics, integral aux tanks, lightweight fuselage stringers,
- Things that made it heavier: seaplane doors, 3rd row windows and additional floor in extended baggage area, larger 2nd row windows, skylight, integral aux tanks, full suite of interior and exterior lights
- First year insurance was ~$5k underwritten by Starr Aviation. They didn't require me to have any previous time in a Bearhawk and the first flight was covered.
First flight squawks:
- Heavy right wing (Plenty of forum advice on solving this)
- CHTs would not allow me to reach 75% power without exceeding 425F (I'm told by Mike--Bob's co-worker--that this should become less of an issue after running the engine a bit)
- Upon landing, right tank appeared full while left tank indicated -5 gal. After sitting on the ground, this mostly evened out.
- The end plate on my temporary aluminum wingtips started coming off at the leading edge. I plan to trim this part off and re-rivet them on.
-Nic
image_11648.jpg
20220422_165352.jpg
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