markpatrick717
New member
Hello everyone,
My name is Mark and I am a 30 yo Mechanical Engineer in the Nashville, TN area. I have always been passionate for aviation having spent my teenage years building and flying homemade R/C aircraft & drones. In fact, I like to image that I was one of the "pioneers" for the modern day drone craze as back then I was building them from scrap wood, CD cases, and old Wii remotes (to rob the accelerometers from them). Somewhere along the way I got away from all that and became a Mechanical Engineer, got married, started a machine shop side business, and now here I am. I actually don’t have my pilot’s license yet, and it’s been about 15 years since I’ve flown in a GA aircraft. I’ve also never flown in a taildragger. All things I'd like to fix soon enough.
I purchased plans to start a Bearhawk 5 build in May 2026 and I have spent the last few weeks working on converting the plans into CAD. I am extremely skilled in Solidworks as that is what I primarily use in my day to day job. I find it very helpful to visualize how the parts assemble and I plan to use it to design fixtures/jigs/etc from the model.
Why plans instead of a quick build?
1. I am looking for a dragon to slay, so to speak. I have a strong desire to accomplish a few monumentally difficult things with my time and this is one of them. I've been telling my wife I will build a plane one day for about 10 years and its finally time to get started.
2. Quick build kits are currently out of my price range. Building a plane is very expensive yes, but with a plan's build I don't need it all at once and with the current price of quick build kits...yikes!
3. I recently found out my late grandfather built a plane back in the late 70's/early 80's and this feels like a small way to connect with him in some way. I actually didn't know about this until after I bought my plans. Somehow nobody ever told me this and unfortunately I don't have any more information on what he built. My grandmother simply says he built and flew a plane and that's all I have to go off of.
Goals & Build Log
I'd like to have this plane flying by the time I'm 40 and have my PPL w/ taildragger endorsement by then as well. That's a ~10 year build goal and I believe I can do it. During the process I hope to make some friends, learn a lot, help others with their builds, and enjoy the process.
I have started my EAA build log, which can be found at this link: https://eaabuilderslog.org?s=BearhawkFive
At the time of writing the only entries are for acquiring my plans and building a 4'x20' workbench in my shop. I will do my best to keep the build log current moving forward.
If there's anyone in the area who'd like to connect please let me know. I am also going to join one of my local EAA chapters, likely #863.
My name is Mark and I am a 30 yo Mechanical Engineer in the Nashville, TN area. I have always been passionate for aviation having spent my teenage years building and flying homemade R/C aircraft & drones. In fact, I like to image that I was one of the "pioneers" for the modern day drone craze as back then I was building them from scrap wood, CD cases, and old Wii remotes (to rob the accelerometers from them). Somewhere along the way I got away from all that and became a Mechanical Engineer, got married, started a machine shop side business, and now here I am. I actually don’t have my pilot’s license yet, and it’s been about 15 years since I’ve flown in a GA aircraft. I’ve also never flown in a taildragger. All things I'd like to fix soon enough.
I purchased plans to start a Bearhawk 5 build in May 2026 and I have spent the last few weeks working on converting the plans into CAD. I am extremely skilled in Solidworks as that is what I primarily use in my day to day job. I find it very helpful to visualize how the parts assemble and I plan to use it to design fixtures/jigs/etc from the model.
Why plans instead of a quick build?
1. I am looking for a dragon to slay, so to speak. I have a strong desire to accomplish a few monumentally difficult things with my time and this is one of them. I've been telling my wife I will build a plane one day for about 10 years and its finally time to get started.
2. Quick build kits are currently out of my price range. Building a plane is very expensive yes, but with a plan's build I don't need it all at once and with the current price of quick build kits...yikes!
3. I recently found out my late grandfather built a plane back in the late 70's/early 80's and this feels like a small way to connect with him in some way. I actually didn't know about this until after I bought my plans. Somehow nobody ever told me this and unfortunately I don't have any more information on what he built. My grandmother simply says he built and flew a plane and that's all I have to go off of.
Goals & Build Log
I'd like to have this plane flying by the time I'm 40 and have my PPL w/ taildragger endorsement by then as well. That's a ~10 year build goal and I believe I can do it. During the process I hope to make some friends, learn a lot, help others with their builds, and enjoy the process.
I have started my EAA build log, which can be found at this link: https://eaabuilderslog.org?s=BearhawkFive
At the time of writing the only entries are for acquiring my plans and building a 4'x20' workbench in my shop. I will do my best to keep the build log current moving forward.
If there's anyone in the area who'd like to connect please let me know. I am also going to join one of my local EAA chapters, likely #863.
Last edited:
