Tweet
Good day! I'm a new member in York County, VA. I just purchased plans for a 4-place model 'B' # 1529B from Bob Barrows two days ago... I called him up as I was driving from my wife's family's place in Blacksburg on the way home to York County, and had a nice visit at Barrows field in Fincastle for a short detour. I've had my eyes on a 4-place Bearhawk for nearly a decade... my deadline is to get 'er done by the time I retire (22 years) so I can fly with my wife around the country in retirement. My goal is to complete it by the time my oldest goes to college (12.5 years). Yes, that's not very ambitious, but probably realistic... 12-22 years!
I love flying high-wings, and I love the (little) time I have on floats (~15 hrs), so my "dream Bearhawk" is on amphibious floats so we can fly up the Alaska Highway and back down the coast. I've been flying since 2003... currently with CSEL/SES/MEL w/ IFR and CFI-ASE, with something over 500 hours, probably 2/3 of which are in a C172. I'm in a flying club now, and have taken the whole fam (wife, 2 boys) to camp at Oshkosh in a C172. I need useful load!!! I don't care about going too fast, either. Hence, a Bearhawk fits my needs well.
I'm an aerospace engineer by trade, and my day job is aircraft (concept) design & technology analysis as a federal civil servant. I've been an EAA member since 2003, and cut my teeth at sheet metal and aircraft restoration from 2000-2006 by volunteering at the CAF Dixie Wing (just south of Atlanta). If you see that beautiful P-63 flying around the airshow circuit with the NACA test colors, I have a few rivets in her! I learned a bunch of sheet metal tips from those days (the crew chief on the P-63 project at that time was a WWII crew chief for P-47s), and I hope that'll carry me through at least the wings on the Bearhawk. I may end up buying a fuselage from Avipro... my welding is passable but very far from amazing.
I didn't go plans-built to "just" save money - I have a way to fly now, and I really want to get into forming & building the sheet metal on the wings. I know that it isn't fastest or necessarily the cheapest way to go... but I just want to work on something when I get home. I spend most of my days on the telephone and/or in front of a computer... I think it'll be nice to spend more time in my shop banging on 2024T3.
I'm looking forward to being a part of the group. Thank you all, and Happy New Year!
Nick Borer
I love flying high-wings, and I love the (little) time I have on floats (~15 hrs), so my "dream Bearhawk" is on amphibious floats so we can fly up the Alaska Highway and back down the coast. I've been flying since 2003... currently with CSEL/SES/MEL w/ IFR and CFI-ASE, with something over 500 hours, probably 2/3 of which are in a C172. I'm in a flying club now, and have taken the whole fam (wife, 2 boys) to camp at Oshkosh in a C172. I need useful load!!! I don't care about going too fast, either. Hence, a Bearhawk fits my needs well.
I'm an aerospace engineer by trade, and my day job is aircraft (concept) design & technology analysis as a federal civil servant. I've been an EAA member since 2003, and cut my teeth at sheet metal and aircraft restoration from 2000-2006 by volunteering at the CAF Dixie Wing (just south of Atlanta). If you see that beautiful P-63 flying around the airshow circuit with the NACA test colors, I have a few rivets in her! I learned a bunch of sheet metal tips from those days (the crew chief on the P-63 project at that time was a WWII crew chief for P-47s), and I hope that'll carry me through at least the wings on the Bearhawk. I may end up buying a fuselage from Avipro... my welding is passable but very far from amazing.
I didn't go plans-built to "just" save money - I have a way to fly now, and I really want to get into forming & building the sheet metal on the wings. I know that it isn't fastest or necessarily the cheapest way to go... but I just want to work on something when I get home. I spend most of my days on the telephone and/or in front of a computer... I think it'll be nice to spend more time in my shop banging on 2024T3.
I'm looking forward to being a part of the group. Thank you all, and Happy New Year!
Nick Borer
Comment