Need mentors/input for Bearhawk purchase

[twills]

Hello Bearhawk crew,

I would greatly appreciate your input/mentorship as I plan on getting my pilots license and purchase of plane. I have been interested in flying my whole life and am now at a point where I can financially afford one and feel that it will be very useful to help me run my business and allow my family and I to leisure more with limited time.

I own a small construction company that operates in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. I think having the plane will benefit me in getting to places quickly to visit job sites pre bid and also checking in on them from time to time or possibly flying to check out a piece of heavy equipment I may be purchasing.

I also frequently travel to my family's ranch or cabin which are in 2 different states and by car are 2-3 hours away. Both would be accessible by plane. Another selfishly large part of my "mission" would be to help me get to the mountains quicker for outdoor activities like hunting/fishing/scouting. Having a background in offroad racing I would absolutely love back country flying and exploring new places.

I have had interest in a few different planes but really love the 4 place Bearhawk. I am married and have 2 children so that would give us room for the whole family.

If you could would you mind giving your 2 cents on flight school training and suggestions on the ultimate build. I have very little knowledge of planes/aftermarket accessories.

Any input and direction would be greatly appreciated! Also, if there are already good forum threads ypubwould recommend that would be great too.

Thanks!

[tailwind]

I am going to be somewhat of a negative Nelly. If you have to get there don’t travel by air. To make an airplane reliable as business transportation you need a instrument rating and an aircraft capable of instrument flight.
Now having said that, yes a Bearhawk can be made capable of instrument flight. You can obtain an instrument ticket and private ticket in a Bearhawk. The Bearhawk is relatively fast but it is an outstanding back country or off airport aircraft.
If I could afford two airplanes I would have two mission specific planes. A Bearhawk for short recreational flights and a Bonanza A36 for business.
The Bearhawk is a great plane. If You plan to fly in the mountains go for the larger horse power engines. You will love the plane in the back country. The Bearhawk 4 was everything I expected and more.

[twills]

Thanks for your input! It's hard to make an introduction and put all my thoughts into 1 post or even this response. I 100% agree about the idea of having two aircraft makes more sense but for now my flying would be 90% for fun and 10% for business. Let me give an example for business use. Some of my contracts are in remote places (AZ strip or Ely, NV for example). To visit my AZ Strip project it took over 6 hours round trip from my home because the site was located mostly non maintained dirt roads. It also happened that the site was a BLM wildland fire station with a dirt landing strip. From my small home town air port it would take approximately 45 inutes at the most round trip. Scenarios like this are when I would have loved to have a plane for business!

When I visualize having a plane the part that definitely makes me most excited is back country flying. Doing things like Steve Henry in his highlander would get the adrenalin junky in me going. And yes I completely understand what he does takes years of crafting pilot skills. I considered getting a highlander for the capability of super short takeoffs and landings but then realistically I will almost never be by myself of not have gear with me.

For now speed is not as important as stol capabilities. I would assume 4 passengers and gear is not ideal for stol performance, but what set up would be a ideal for being fully loaded and flying back country? How much horsepower would be useful for this plane?

Again, I'm new to aviation and have a bunch of questions and don't even necessarily know how to communicate in technical terms.

Thanks in advance

[Utah-Jay]

Big Engine

I will chime in… My initial reason for building my Companion was to take me to the most remote fishing locations. There is not a better choice for a wide flight envelope and hauling ability than a BH. As my build has progressed so has our ideas of how to use it, my wife is a golf fanatic, so we will fly to southern Utah/northern Nevada in the winter to play some golf and will likely fly to Sun Valley to ski occasionally for a change from our home mountain.

Back to the big engine…. With our DA’s out west, you need a big engine. I went with a 200hp for the 2 seat Companion, but you need the 540 for a 4 Place out west.

Go for it!

[twills]

Thanks Jay, awesome YouTube channel I always appreciate people sharing their adventures so I can live through them until I am up in the air.

Thank you for the recommendation on the 540. Just curious, is there anyone on this forum or outside of it i guess that you know of that have built their own engine? My brothers friend races drag and sprint cars so they are wizards when it comes to building engines.

When trying to get the best performance out of your plane for takeoffs and climbs what are the most import components to consider? Obviously power to weight ratio, propeller? What else?

Maybe their is an existing thread on this someone could share with me?

Thanks

[jaredyates]

The most important factor when building airplane engines is reliability. We significantly derate them from what they could put out if we only needed them to last a short while, or if it was acceptable for them to fail unpredictably.

[whee]

Everyone has an opinion about everything; it’s best to get some experience and build your own opinions.

As for my opinion: A 4-place BH is a great all around airplane and can fulfill your described mission. I have experience in 180hp, 260hp and my 210hp Bearhawk. All of them work perfectly fine in the DAs we have here in the west. For a family truckster I’d pick one of the heavier engines for CG reasons.

From your starting point my opinion is: It will be several years before you actually trust yourself enough to travel with your family in an airplane. I’m mean travel in a useful way, not a day trip for a $100 hamburger or a weekend trip with flexible dates.

The weather around me almost demands an instrument rating to make airplane travel useful and reliable. It takes a lot of time and money to maintain adequate proficiency to safely fly IMC flights and in a Bearhawk you are going to want an autopilot.

I think you should get your license on whatever airplane your flight school has. Then buy a Cessna 182 or something comparable and fly it for a few years. Once your real mission shakes out then you should revisit the dream plane idea.

[twills]

I have definitely already had the thought of most likely being a couple of years before I feel comfortable taking the family along! All-around solid advice, thank you.

[TimTall]

Definitely plenty of opinions out there on the internet!

In my opinion, having too much power is never a problem. I've never operated a vehicle of any kind with too much power. If you dial it back you can be almost as efficient as the smaller engines but the power is there when you need it. I would avoid auto conversions though. The complexity of the reduction gearbox and the packaging of the liquid cooling system seem to give people lots of problems. The engines end up weighing the same or more and have a bunch more failure modes to consider.

I agree with Whee that you should get a license on whatever you can get your hands on. Better if it's a tailwheel but not a deal breaker. I don't agree that it will necessarily take a couple years to be comfortable traveling with the family. Everyone learns differently and has different risk tolerance levels.

You don't mention whether you're planning to build a Bearhawk or buy a flying version. If you're planning to build, definitely get a flying plane to learn on during the build. If you can find a flying Bearhawk to buy, I'd say go for it. Learn in it if you can find an instructor.

[Battson]

Interestingly, larger engines are often more efficient than smaller engines, as the fraction of energy attributed to losses is smaller.

[twills]

When it comes to power, for example on a dirt bike a stock YZ450 with an aftermarket exhaust system has every bit of power I need and I actually tune the power to a longer curve so there isn't as much hit because the tire will often break loose. I am curious how you would figure the best power to weight ratio for the best performance at takeoff? Is it possible to get a 4 place fully loaded up in the air within 100' at 5-7000 feet density altitude?

i would love to choose the components on my bearhawk but don't necessarily care to build it myself. My mechanic happens to be in the national guard and works on planes a little but he is busy enough with the heavy equipment haha.

You don't know what you don't have exposure to/experience with so I definitely appreciate your thoughts! Awesome plane in your profile pic!

[Battson]

Is it possible to get a 4 place fully loaded up, in the air within 100' at 5-7000 feet density altitude?

No
Allow 600 ft with some safety margin built in

[OhioLSA]

I think Whee is right: get your license in whatever plane your local flight school uses, and build experience. Usually by the time you've gotten your license, flown for a while, then gone through the training for your instrument rating, you'll have gotten some exposure to a few different planes of increasing power and complexity. You'll then have a much better perspective when it comes to choosing the airplane for your mission. You also might find find that your vision of your mission has changed by that time.

[N3UW]

I also agree with Whee and OhioLSA. Get your liscense in whatever plane you can. If it a tail wheel plane that is even better but not absolutely necessary. After you get your ticket and are gaining some experience look around at other planes. Go fly a few. Go to airventure and look and talk to everyone.

while I was getting my license I had strong ideas of planes I thought I wanted. Once I got my license and got a little experience, that totally changed. I am glad I did not buy the planes I originally thought I wanted.