Bearhawk in the backcountry

[Battson]

I have been meaning to post this for a while, but life has been full of distractions..

Here are some still images from my last trip, it will have to come in two parts with the 4 photo limit:
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[Battson]

^ Can you spot the airstrip on the very left-edge of the above picture?

[Battson]

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[Sid]

Whats the lake Battson? I don't recognise it..

[Battson]

That is Lake Alabaster, under the shadow of Mt Tutoko; in the Pyke river valley, Fiordland (Ata Whenua!).

[Battson]

Here's a pretty cool place to land. One way and uphill, although with the Bear there was an option of going around. DA around 5000ft, which is high for NZ.
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It took a few passes to be sure of the place, before running the wheels along it. Turned out to be no problem at all.
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[Battson]

Here's a fairly rough spot we nipped into for a hunting trip, with 50% fuel and a whole lot of gear. The spot was less than 400ft in length, closer to 300ft. The Bearhawk doesn't have second thoughts about it... the large rocks make for a bumpier landing, no matter what, but it's over fast.
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I hope nobody is offended by the realities of life here - hunting is an important part of backcountry aviation culture and history in NZ, and we have no natural way of controlling the deer which man introduced to an unprepared environment. So this is a success, of course we eat them:
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We stopped in to see another friend of mine who was out hunting, although he was away fly camping at the time.
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This is another tight little spot we stopped at, about 300ft and slippery grass with little braking action. There was no possibility of overrunning the length without causing damage, so the landing had to be precise and without a bounce. Again no worries for the Bearhawk, kept light this time, for the lower braking compared to the river stones. With two people with light gear and no extra fuel, we needed 150ft of the available length. At least the take-off is never a problem with the IO-540!
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Landing at the beach / river mouth, camped overnight ready for some freezing cold diving at first light. Flippers strewn everywhere!
There isn't always a flat place to park....
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[Sid]

Nice..... one day!

[Blackrock]

Beautiful photo's. Looks like a very fun place to fly. When are putting ski's on that bird? I've wanted to visit NZ for a long time, definitely a bucket list location for me!

[Battson]

I have certainly thought about skis this winter - I wonder how many mods would be required to make a Maule set fit.

[Battson]

Here's a little video I posted in the tailwheel thread. The next long edited compilation video is in the works:

[Blackrock]

Nice flying Jon! Not to beat a dead horse here, ok I will, you do great with those tires, but a set of 31-inch ABW's and tailwheel would be a night/day difference and would take a lot of stress off your plane. Well worth the cost for the kind of flying we do. I resisted for a long time (sound familiar?). Can't go back now! PM me or email about re-capping. They will last a very long time. They have saved me from wrecking my plane at least once. Paid for themselves many times over in the instant I mis-judged one landing.

[Battson]

Thanks Mike,
We already have the larger tailwheel on order with Eric. Couldn't agree more on that one!
The 26" mains are perfect for our operations, the right mix of airspeed, light weight, and durability. The only problem has been the tail sinking in sand or soft gravel.

[Blackrock]

For sure Eric's tail wheel is a good way to go and will provide the extra flotation you are looking for. I guess I wasn't aware he had the tundra version available. It's been out for over a year now, I see. I need to spend more time on here to get caught up!

Mike

[Battson]

We got the opportunity to land up on a cross-country ski field recently, which was a fun experience. Safe to say there's not a lot of control when you try to taxi downwind...

[Battson]

Here are some photos from another hunting trip.

We left early in the morning to allow time to stop on the way, and check the rifles were shooting straight. After crossing the Southern Alps we descended through a small pass under the clouds, and down valley until we reached our landing area. The valley was locked in cloud. The sandflies were absolutely terrible, so target practice didn't take long....
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Afterwards, we had intended to fly down to the coast for a hunt. But after taking off and tracking just a few miles down valley, we were thwarted by heavy rain and very low cloud, right down to the river gorge. This forced us to turn back, and we had no option except land again, or climb back over the Alps again - from sea level!!. Fortunately at 2,000 ft/min there was no need to circle in the confines of the valley to gain altitude, and were soon back to 8,000 ft.
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We flew north for some time and scouted a couple of different valleys, which were less confined with cloud. Our first choice was occupied as we spied a herdsman moving cattle into the valley. Continuing north, we found somewhere with better weather and landed. There was plenty of deer sign. We spent the day hiking upstream and spooked a good sized mob of deer while stalking in the forest.
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Carefully timing our return, we arrived back at the aeroplane about 25 minutes before dark. This allowed just enough time to warm up and fly back to home-plate before the end of Evening Civil Twilight.
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It was raining hard when we arrived back home, although still before "official" twilight, which made for quite a dark landing.

[Battson]

Here's the latest installment of video:

[Mark Goldberg]

Exciting video as always Jonathan. My heart is beating fast just watching it. Some of the places you set down seem pretty rough. Maybe just because the camera was shaking. Mark

[Battson]

Thanks Mark - I think it's fair to say some of those places are pretty rough. It shakes the camera

[Battson]

Here are a few shots from a couple of weekends back - a bow hunting trip for red deer and wild boar. The plane ended up hauling a big load of venison home after a successful evening's hunting.
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[Battson]

Here's the latest installment of video:

[JimParker256]

Nice! Can't wait until I can fly my Patrol...

[Peter Bishton]

Johnathon impressive aircraft. I particularly live your landing at muzzle station fluky loaded. Coming over to nz in January 2016 to sth isle. Will you be around there if four interested family members would like to see you in action? Peter (4 place plans set # 1134)

[Battson]

Hi Peter, I'll send you a personal message.

[Battson]

I wanted to drop this video in this thread too:

You need to watch it on YouTube, I don't think it will work if you watch it here (embedded on this webpage)

- IMPORTANT - remember to use the control button in the top left corner of the video, to access the 360 degree views, otherwise watching the video will suck! The quality isn't "amazing".

Yes, it is French. Magnifique!

[Peter Bishton]

Jonathan more impressive stuff from you over there in NZ. My wife and two teenage kids are coming over from Aus in Jan and would love to see your aircraft in action. As I said previously the muzzle station landing did it for me. Impressive aircraft. We are scratch building and have bought quite a few parts from Mark G. He is a nice fella and very helpful. Have an low time O360 to power our aircraft. Peter B plans #1134 - 4 place

[Battson]

Thanks Peter,
I'd be happy to catch up if the timing works out. I should mention that January will be a busy month, both for me and also the Bearhawk which is at the 400hr check. You can contact me at "jono battson" (all one work) at gmail.
Jonathan