Recent content by noema

I recently had a flight with serious anti-get-there-ities. The sun was setting over the Alps and I thought to myself what is the slowest practical cruise in 10500 ft. Turned out that I could reduce power to 40%, sip about 4.9 gals (18.6l) per hour and hop from ridge to ridge with 100+ KTAS. I...

Thats how much weight I hung on my engine for testing: Then I dropped it from about 1.5 ft on its gear: https://youtu.be/UPvK5xR43sY?feature=shared Finally I drove it 3h to my test airport. A few bumps on a 30min drive should be fine.

I am still fascinated how little trimming caused much improved flight characteristics. Here are some photos to fully appreciate how small my gurney flap is. It is small and light enough that you can simply tape it on for testing. My final version is permanently installed with mid-strength 3M...

I recently trimmed out my Bearhawk Patrol for hands-free (and feet-free) flying. It's remarkable how little modification it took to go from okay-ish to dialed in. I started with a light 6" angle extrusion taped to the rudder. This was comically too much trim. After reducing it to about 2...

I had a similar thought process. Wanted a paint scheme that degrades nicely under use with some vinyl decals I can redo when I feel like. There are different adhesives you can choose from. I opted for the one that can easily be removed (ORACAL 631, 3M has similar offerings) with the idea I...

I really liked using Techflex Flexo F6 for my installation. They are split PET sleeves that can be installed around a bundle of wires after installation. Used them to protect the fuel and hydraulic line as well. There are actually 100s of variations, including fire retardant ones. I routed a...

I made a composite cover towards the left side of the cargo compartment with the idea to strap cargo towards that side. Bags may still touch the rudder cable on the right but wouldn't lay down significant weight. ​

Ladies and Gentlemen, the XHawk has landed—after taking off like a homesick angel. Shortly before first flight, an A&P and a fellow pilot asked if I'd ever flown a Bearhawk before. When I said no, they were surprised. It's probably thanks to all your testimonials and flight reports that I...

Made it to the airport! I have recently moved my Bearhawk to the airport. Not sure how this would go over I was pleasantly surprised that anybody from A&Ps, pilots, CAMO managers, VIP staff, airport managers really liked the airplane. People were really helpful and forthcoming. Hoping this...

The less complex is just using a long flex hose (eg pegasus racing) from caliper to a bulkhead coupler at the gear hinge. Just stopping short with the fabric at the bottom leaves enough space that the hose routes well when using a 45 deg nibble. ​ Here is the inside view (the black parts are...

More hacks: The next one I have seen someone do from this forum. Unfortunately I forgot who. What I think I have added it that you can couple the deburring bit to a standard AN3 bolt with a standard nut. This is useful whenever you can add a hole (either by choice or design) in the opposite...

Tried to bleed the brakes yesterday. I did get the fluid through the matco parking brake but otherwise it was an epic failure. Part of the reason was my equipments wasn't good and I will try again geared up. For anybody interested, I did find the bleed valve connectors (Grove/Cleveland) so I...

I got a Vetterman cross-over exhaust with dual heat muffs installed on my Patrol/Lycoming YO-360-A1A. With the exhaust also came a small heat muff which I use for carb heat. There were no instruction for it but there was only one place where it would fit. Question for anybody who is using this...

Hey Paul, looks like there may be an easy fix. Does the other side of the push-pull tube have a thin end, some 10 inches with a reduced diameter? Then simply reverse the tube. If not, your tube is missing an important feature and you should talk to Virgil. ​

I had the pleasure to do a limit load test on some of the critical components of the Bearhawk Patrol. The Austrian CAA wasn't fully convinced there was enough data with Bearhawk series of aircrafts in EASA-land and required it. Developing the test program and executing it was quite a lot of work...