Bearhawk in the backcountry

[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

[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

[mswain]

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!

Wow, that is neat. On the IPad you just tilt to pan around

[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!

[Battson]

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

[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)

[JimParker256]

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

[Battson]

Here's the latest installment of video:

[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.
IMG_4501_zpssmyhapjb.jpg
IMG_4507_zpscnbmcmn2.jpg


IMG_4504_zps7minazds.jpg

[Battson]

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

[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]

Here's the latest installment of video:

[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....
20150830_103329_zpszvbdqxie.jpg

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.
20150830_103403_zpsrx6cl7wf.jpg

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.
20150830_175852_zpsza30oxi3.jpg

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.
20150830_175911_zpsyhugxnrm.jpg
It was raining hard when we arrived back home, although still before "official" twilight, which made for quite a dark landing.

[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...

[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