Bearhawk in the backcountry

[Battson]

I am definitely happy.
Of all the photos you see taken off-airport, the 24" (26) Goodyears are perfectly suited for over 90% of those places people take aircraft.
I didn't lose a knot of airspeed moving up from the 8.00's. For me personally, it wouldn't be worth the airspeed hit to occasionally land on a much rougher spot. I do a lot of long cross country flights.
The ramp appeal is 10x better than with the 8.00's. At less than 15psi the felt impact at touchdown is non-existent, and the floatation on soft sand is about 10x better too.
So there's really nothing not to like!

I am very happy I didn't fall into the "trap" of going too big, those ABW tires are amazing, but certainly don't fit my mission well.

[JohnF]

What are you using for bead locks?

[bestbearhawk1231]

Are you still happy with your 26's or do you wish you had gone a bit bigger?

[Battson]

Now running the tires down at 15psi, with inner tubes and bead-lockers installed.

[Battson]

Still haven't had time to make another video.

Here are some photos from this weekend:

Volcanic crater lake.


High mountain tussock lands, snow still melting after a recent fall.


Landing at the bushline, only 4000ft but high enough. Taking a 14kt tailwind into this strip, because of the uphill angle (and my pathetic brakes - still waiting on parts).
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I had to park here for a photo... the top end of this airstrip is like a waterlogged roller-coaster. Uphill, corner, downhill, swamp with 3" water, uphill again. Changing from a L-R slope to a R-L slope too.
My first thought was to land in the short 60m (186ft) swampy hollow in the photo, to take the cross-headwind so my touchdown would only be at 20kts instead of >50kts, but the rough wet surface and my 'single-puck' brakes meant that directional control was an issue with power-off + tailwind. I did three practice landings to get a feel for the surface, and I am glad I did, with power for steering and the tailwind pushing me I needed the entire length of the airstrip, including the roller-coaster swamp.... New brakes cannot arrive soon enough!!!!
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The rest of the airstrip (photo above) is over the small hill on the right side of the photo.

[Battson]

A snap from the weekend... will have some more video soon.

[Chewie]

All this bearhawk porn is killing me!

[Battson]

Here is a video of the Bearhawk landing, it's kinda shaky so I hope you don't get motion sickness... I was flying not filming :P

[Battson]

Flying South for the winter, with friends.


Frosty nose after a cold night out


Frozen prop blade at the top, a foggy morning.


A cold Bearhawk!

[Battson]

We landed here as loaded as I've ever had the plane, 4 people and cargo area full of luxuries for the weekend, CG-aft limit. The Bear loves it and keeps powering in and out of big country!

Still losing tailwheel chain - chainless is the way for me!
Racing towards the next "annual" / 100hr inspection.......



Winter's coming


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[Battson]

And one last shot for good measure....

[Battson]

Here we are tied down for the night in the head of the Hunter valley. Great hut here, huge fireplace and lots of wood. We caught the first fish we saw on the first cast!


Again, tied down on a windy old day, fly fishing in the river below while the plane shelters against the trees.


Some of the fishing action.


Here's the result - a 7lb rainbow trout (hen).

[Battson]

Further events from the backcountry!

We've got 150 hours on the plane now, and the wear and tear is starting to show in places. In a good way! I'm more confident to visit the more difficult airstrips in worse weather / with heavier loads, so we're having more and more fun. This is an interesting learning process and a first for me.

Here we are on a river bar, with friends. Both aircraft were full tanks and 4 passengers up.


This is a rarely used airstrip and there were no marks in the grass. It took more than the usual 3 low passes to assess, before both pilots on board were confident on where to put the aircraft. We spent the evening fly-fishing.


Another new airstrip for me, about 700ft usable just above sea level. We only needed roughly half of that with 4 people and half fuel.


As you can see, it's a wet and swampy sort of place.

[Battson]

The weather packed up again just in time for the flight out, valley fog, we and another aircraft (A185F) were left sitting on the local airstrips while we waited for the gorge to clear up.

[Battson]

Hunting season is here in NZ! The rut (roar) is something some of you will know about, a big deal for deer hunters. We explored some hunting grounds early-season.

We flew in on a cloudy afternoon, we had to get up to 8,000ft to get over into the 900ft airstrip.


The airstrip is one-way into the trees.


Stalking deer in the forest


Beautiful weather later