I know this is an old thread, but will there be any Bearhawks at Sun 'n Fun this year. Would love to see one. Been considering building a Murphy Moose, but a Bearhawks might be a better choice for me.

Eduardo

My question is..........Can Mmm mmmmm mmmmmmm Mmmmmmaule parts cross with a BearHawk to alleviate some build time?

Love the numbers posted by BearHawk, but wish you could cut a little build time off.

Just sayin.

They do offer a quick build option which would save a lot of time but you are going to pay for it.

Hello from Austin TX. We manufacture the Quick Build kits for the Bearhawk, Patrol, and Bearhawk LSA.

I don't know of any Bearhawks at SNF although some flying Bearhawks might be there. Our company is not attending this year.

The quickest way to get one done obviously is to build from our QB kit - the most complete kit we offer. It does cost more than just buying the materials but a tremendous amount of work is saved. Parts made on our factory tooling are very true to the plans.

I might suggest some comparison shopping when saying that the kits cost a lot of money. Our kits compare very favorably to other kit manufacturers in value. Common off the shelf items are not usually included in our kits, but even adding in those items our kits are a great value.

But flying qualities are really what count most at the end of the day. Bob Barrows is a great designer and all his designs are fantastic flying planes. My email address is [email protected]. I welcome questions from anyone but I don't always watch for the postings on this forum. Mark Goldberg. Bearhawk Aircraft

Thank you Mark. I will look for one at SNF, but will consider building one. I'll send you an e-mail if I have any questions.

Eduardo

PatínLoco wrote:I know this is an old thread, but will there be any Bearhawks at Sun 'n Fun this year. Would love to see one. Been considering building a Murphy Moose, but a Bearhawks might be a better choice for me.

Eduardo

A surprising bit I learned about Murphy Moose/Bearhawk comparisions.
I few years ago I was giving demo flights in the Bearhawk. I was at Copperstate and there was a gentleman there I took up who was building a Bearhawk at the time.
He showed me the plane he flew there that day, it was a Murphy Moose.
I happen to think that Moose with it's M14 and all it's Beaver characteristics is about the sexiest bush type plane out there.
I asked him why he was going to all the effort to build a Bearhawk.
He said the Moose is very much like a Beaver, maybe a bit too much if you're really wanting out & out performance.
One huge advantage of a bearhawk over many other bush types is it's cruise speed and range. And since it's short field and lifting capacity are also quite good even though it doesn't have that handsome radial engine on the nose, it's numbers still can't be denied.
I enjoyed the time I got to fly the bearhawk immensely.

Acroflyrgirl,

What do you fly now? It would be good to hear more about your Bearhawk perspectives. I'm biased since I fly one, but do not have the benefit of your experience in a lot of other aircraft.

Blackrock

I suspect she flies an RV.........6?

Amiright?

I just completed a Patrol a couple of weeks ago. Build time was 3.5 yrs, and another 90 days waiting on the FAA to issue an airworthiness certificate. Mine came in at 1190 lbs, with an O-375 engine and a Hartrzell constant speed prop. I made no special effort to save weight other than that called for in the plans, and this weight is about 200 lbs heavier than the prototype (which had a fixed pitch prop, no electrical system and I think a little lighter engine). The only change I made from the plans was to use a wet wing rather than the fabricated aluminum fuel tanks the plans call for. This increases the already large fuel capacity and probably saves a little weight.

I have about 4 hrs on it now. Stall speeds are 40K clean and 30K with full flaps. High cruise gives about 120K indicated at 4500 msl. Handling is great, with good control authority still available right down to stall. Control forces are lighter than normal for an aircraft of this type, e.g. a Supercub. The only things I don't like about it are that the flap handle is difficult to reach when adding the first notch, and the ride in turbulence is pretty rough (which of course goes with the low wing loading). Probably the most unique feature is the outstanding range/endurance due to the large amount of useable fuel. Will probably never use this in the US, but it could come in handy in remote areas.

Very cool!