Bearhawk in the backcountry

[Battson]

The adventures continue.

Sorry about the random photo sizes, sometimes all I have is a phone for a camera.

[Battson]

Thanks Mark,

Yes, that is a sheep farm.
Historically, most of NZ has been sheep farming (in the 1980's there were over 35 sheep for every person, now down to about 17pp )
Recently deer and now dairy conversions are very popular. The dairy is mostly on the flat land, with mostly sheep remaining on the hill country.

Jonathan

[marcusofcotton]

Beautiful. Is that sheep ranching primarily? I sure enjoy your posts for both the scenery and the details of how the Bearhawk is doing!

Mark J

[Battson]

Checked out another couple of spots this weekend.

Reasonably short and steep uphill airstrip, the pad on the top looks quite small at 60kts. Had to get the braking just right:

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Gradually building up to bigger rocks, still at 14psi with bead lockers (no slippage).
Managed to catch a flying stone with the trailing edge of the rudder and elevator, two in one! So that'll be another small patch job.
​

[Battson]

Another weekend venture to a riverbed, this was probably the narrowest spot I've landed so far. It's definitely great fun finding challenges.

[Battson]

Stopped for a look in a new place on the way back.


Flying home over the Marlborough Sounds.


Ended up being 7.5hrs flying, a good weekend in my book.

[Battson]

I appreciate the comments guys!

Here's a few more snaps from the weekend:

Flying over the ice-lake.


Short clip of landing.

About to leave camp for a hike up to see the ice.


I guess the ice looked about 8" thick.

[KyBearhawk]

Both are great shots.

[Jflyer]

Now that's a 'Money Shot'. Absolutely beautiful!
It should make the cover of a few magazines if they're paying attention

[Battson]

Photo of the gravel bar in the above video. Braking on wet or frosty grass compared to this gravel surface was like night and day.


A photo from a recent hunting trip - more to follow.

[Battson]

Video of a short take-off from the riverbed.

And a take-off from a different riverbed, this one was the shortest spot I've landed on yet. I paced it out at about 100m (310ft) available at most, of which I used 65m (200ft) to get stopped.

I kept the plane on the ground until I was on the sand by the water, to avoid lowering the tail into the path of flying stones thrown by the main wheels...

[Battson]

I'm just putting a copy of this video here, so it's part of the storyline...

Testing the new tires on sand:

Trying to get more video sorted out to post, if only my computer wouldn't play-up so much...... Movie Maker loves to crash it.

[Battson]

To be honest, I did toss and turn between 26" ABWs and 26 (24) Goodyears - I knew I didn't need to go any bigger, but it was the paved runway thing [and the subsequent replacement cost] which finally made my mind up.

I have to taxi on rough chip to my hanger, and run-up on rough chip, etc. There are also some important re-fuelling airports which don't have a grass option. I estimate one paved landing every 2 months. But otherwise, I always use the grass.

[bestbearhawk1231]

Glad to hear you are happy. I have been debating about 8.5x6's or the goodyears. It will be interesting to see how they hold up. How much landing do you do on paved runways?

[Battson]

I will post another thread with photos, in the building tips section.