Bearhawk in the backcountry

[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!

[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]

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]

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

[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.

[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.

[Battson]

[Battson]

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

[marcusofcotton]

Keep it up, thanks!

[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

[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]

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]

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]

And one last shot for good measure....

[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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