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Excited to announce that my new to me Bearhawk is home! This all began a short time ago with the intentions of searching for a new bush plane for Idaho. I knew I wanted to go experimental, and I knew I had to have 4 seats, the rest was in the air. After extensive research, I made the decision to purchase a Bearhawk, I was not in the position to build at this time (that will come later) so finding a prebuilt out there was the new challenge. There just happened to be 3 for sale in the Phoenix area, and with friends in that area, calls were made and visits set up. All three were fine planes and all three were very different. It set my sites on Cathy's bird down in Tucson, made the offer, and got it done. Thanks again Cathy, I know it was hard to let her go.
After getting checked out the next day for insurance purposes, my friend and fellow pilot Mike due to weather, departed in the afternoon, and began our trip north to Idaho. A real chance to shake down the aircraft and get to know her better. And what an amazing flight, and adventure it was. We headed north splitting Prescott and Flagstaff due to weather in both of those area's, once clearing the snowstorms in Flagstaff we were forced to head Northeast towards Page, low ceilings would not allow us to reach high enough altitudes for the VFR corridors to cross the Grand Canyon. So we skirted around the Eastern edge of the canyon and split Page and Marble Canyon.
Weather cleared North of the Grand Canyon, so we headed back Northwest in route to Bryce Canyon. Needing a bathroom break, we landed in Bryce canyon, topped off the main tanks, and continued our journey North. Flying the canyons over Panguitch, Junction, Richfield, we finally excited the canyon lands over Delta, and followed the dunes North for our night stop in Tooele UT, where I had family to visit, and we had some free room, and board.
The next morning Mike headed to Salt Lake to catch a cattle car home, and I headed to the airport to load up for the last leg back to Idaho. But when I arrived to the airport I realized the bottom had fallen out on the temps that night and air temp was hovering around 26F, this plane was not going to start, and with no engine and oil heaters to plug in (this aircraft has been living in AZ) I had nothing to plug in anyways, the airport was dead, no hangars to pull in, and no FBO. I figured I was done. As I sat trying to figure out what I was going to do, I walked around to see what I could find, and low and behold what did I find, and old propane BBQ grill, and a crappy lighter. I decided the most Alaska thing I could do was try and see if I could get it lit and heat the engine from underneath. And that's exactly what I did, I just prayed there was enough propane to get the job done (Sky Dive Utah, when ya open back up in the spring, I owe ya a $20) I slid it under the nose after getting it lit, popped the cowls just a little, monitored and waited, after about an hour and a half, and a mad hankering for burgers, I got CHT's and oil temps up to 55F, put everything away, cranked the engine and set off.
After getting checked out the next day for insurance purposes, my friend and fellow pilot Mike due to weather, departed in the afternoon, and began our trip north to Idaho. A real chance to shake down the aircraft and get to know her better. And what an amazing flight, and adventure it was. We headed north splitting Prescott and Flagstaff due to weather in both of those area's, once clearing the snowstorms in Flagstaff we were forced to head Northeast towards Page, low ceilings would not allow us to reach high enough altitudes for the VFR corridors to cross the Grand Canyon. So we skirted around the Eastern edge of the canyon and split Page and Marble Canyon.
Weather cleared North of the Grand Canyon, so we headed back Northwest in route to Bryce Canyon. Needing a bathroom break, we landed in Bryce canyon, topped off the main tanks, and continued our journey North. Flying the canyons over Panguitch, Junction, Richfield, we finally excited the canyon lands over Delta, and followed the dunes North for our night stop in Tooele UT, where I had family to visit, and we had some free room, and board.
The next morning Mike headed to Salt Lake to catch a cattle car home, and I headed to the airport to load up for the last leg back to Idaho. But when I arrived to the airport I realized the bottom had fallen out on the temps that night and air temp was hovering around 26F, this plane was not going to start, and with no engine and oil heaters to plug in (this aircraft has been living in AZ) I had nothing to plug in anyways, the airport was dead, no hangars to pull in, and no FBO. I figured I was done. As I sat trying to figure out what I was going to do, I walked around to see what I could find, and low and behold what did I find, and old propane BBQ grill, and a crappy lighter. I decided the most Alaska thing I could do was try and see if I could get it lit and heat the engine from underneath. And that's exactly what I did, I just prayed there was enough propane to get the job done (Sky Dive Utah, when ya open back up in the spring, I owe ya a $20) I slid it under the nose after getting it lit, popped the cowls just a little, monitored and waited, after about an hour and a half, and a mad hankering for burgers, I got CHT's and oil temps up to 55F, put everything away, cranked the engine and set off.
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