Bearhawk in the backcountry

[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]

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

[Chewie]

All this bearhawk porn is killing me!

[Battson]

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

[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).
​

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!!!!
​
The rest of the airstrip (photo above) is over the small hill on the right side of the photo.

[Battson]

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

[bestbearhawk1231]

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

[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.

[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]

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.

[JohnF]

What are you using for bead locks?

[Battson]

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

[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]

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]

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.

[Jflyer]

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

[KyBearhawk]

Both are great shots.

[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.

[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.