Bearhawk in the backcountry

[marcusofcotton]

Keep it up, thanks!

[Battson]

A few more photos from our day at the beach....

[Battson]

[Battson]

Here's our latest long-weekend's travels abridged (4 days fishing and mountain flying):

Okarito river mouth, landing at the local camping grounds / reserve for a day's salmon fishing.


Siberia valley, great scenic spot to stop for a walk and a swim.


One of several strips in the Hunter valley. Plenty of fishing here. The strip at the top of the valley looks a tight one, I wasn't keen to try it with 4 people and gear on board, but I will be back one day soon. The long grass makes it tough to see what you're landing on, this time of year...


Dingleburn valley, one of two good airstrips there - again, nice fly fishing.

[kestrel]

When I bought my Bearhawk it had a Maule tailwheel that would shimmy no matter what I did. Replacing it with one from Bearhawk Tailwheels LLC (Bob's design) fixed that. However, before I replaced it, the old tailwheel sheared its shear pin leaving me with a free castering and shimmying tailwheel. I only did one flight that way before replacing, but the Bearhawk was quite controllable. I imagine it would be even better with a free castoring tailwheel that wasn't shimmying.

[marcusofcotton]

That's good to hear Jared, I hear of a few folks running without chains but obviously most don't. Lots of nose draggers have free castoring nose wheels but there are the obvious geometry differences. With the Catto prop and O-320/340 my nose will be light so I've been thinking more radically about how to keep the tail light.

Mark J

[Battson]

I am enjoying it so far - with the caveat that I'm only flying light loads. The steering is smoother and more predictable with a free-castering tailwheel.

The Bearhawk is significantly harder work to steer when it's loaded heavy, I'll know how it feels without chains this Friday when I fly 4 people and gear. We are off to the big STOL comp.

If steering heavy loads works without chains, I think I'm unlikely to go back to chains for a while (until some bad experience proves otherwise).

[jaredyates]

I had both chains come off of mine while taxi testing, in part because the spring preload was too loose. The steering was fine with just rudder and brakes, but if a brake were to fail for whatever reason, the plane would have been completely uncontrollable on the ground.

[marcusofcotton]

I'm interested to hear your positive and negative experiences in the chainless mode. Sure am enjoying the great pics and detailed sharing of all points of your BH experiences!

Mark J

[Battson]

Hey Brad,

If I can get time I am likely to pop through Taupo soon enough.... I'll send you a txt if I have enough daylight to stop by.

Coming home from Ruapehu Saturday evening, I was pushed for time against ECT-30 and chose to "open her up" for a change - we didn't lose any speed for the VGs, that's for sure. Making 150 KTAS makes you smile, from a plane that lands at less than 35KIAS.

[Battson]

I always safety wire those clips, I have seen them come loose on more than one airplane. People at my airport laugh at me and say "I don't see any reason to safety those, I don't see how they could ever come off.". Well, I have seen it a few times now. Beautiful pictures by the way. What a great trip report, very motivational. Thanks so much for sharing.

Landing this weekend, after sunset, I had one pop off at the top and the chain went under the tailwheel... that tore the chain clean off the spring clip, which was bent beyond repair...
So I am running without tailwheel chains for the moment!!

Thanks for the kind words!

[Enewton57]

Another interesting point which I forgot to mention: On the way home we had to fly though to some severe turbulence to remain VFR and enter the control zone. I had to landed with 15G20kts crosswind - stressful way to finish the day. Upon putting the tail on the ground, once we'd slowed to walking pace, I found I had lost tailwheel steering in both directions. No problem, lean on the brakes to steer.... The tailwheel chains had been shaken free by the turbulence(!), the spring clips had actually been undone (somehow??). The chains are a good length - just a hint of slack. I need to oppose the rudder and tailwheel to get enough slack to unclip the chains on the ground. So I can only surmise the turbulence was making the tailwheel flop around quite a lot in flight. Anyway, I was very happy that I elected to use proper crosswind technique. Had I three-pointed in and relied on tailwheel steering, it could have been more excitement than I bargained for.

I always safety wire those clips, I have seen them come loose on more than one airplane. People at my airport laugh at me and say "I don't see any reason to safety those, I don't see how they could ever come off.". Well, I have seen it a few times now. Beautiful pictures by the way. What a great trip report, very motivational. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Bradrock]

Seriously Jono, I'm jealous already! But your pics are certainly making me spend more time in the garage. If you're likely to stop in Taupo, please let me know. Or if I can come and play sometime I'll fly down there.
I'm really enjoying the scratch building process but am painfully aware of how long it will take.

[kestrel]

Outstanding country! :-)

[Battson]

And here's Fox Glacier


And the much smaller Snow White Glacier (or what remains of it) falling from Mt Maoriri, at the very head of the Arawhata River.


And one last photo in the long grass, for good measure.