RoughAir wrote:Battson, Sweeet machine you've got there. I've you ever tried running 31's with low air pressure on that BH? Mike

Thanks! It took a lot of building, and now I'm in the process of slowly undoing all that hard work... But, it was made to be used!

I would love some 31" ABWs... I fear the combination of the purchase price, shipping costs, short service life (paved home strip), and cruise speed loss (I regularly do long 3-4 hour cross countries) means that anything bigger than 26" GYs too expensive for me right now. Maybe in another few years, or if I win the lottery...

Hey mate, have just been sent the most amazing video of your aircraft with a 360 degree view where one can actually look around! Its simply amazing. I Have to ask, whats the camera you have used?

DrifterDriver wrote:Hey mate, have just been sent the most amazing video of your aircraft with a 360 degree view where one can actually look around! Its simply amazing. I Have to ask, whats the camera you have used?

That's filmed with a ball of Go-pro cameras, like this, except ours had about 9 cameras. Changing / charging all the batteries was a job:


It was done for a TV show, there is also in-cockpit video + audio, interviews, etc... but it's all in French except what I say, so not much good to you and me. Aired on France 5 I think.

I've been deperately slack with the camera lately.... we are still doing a lot of flying!

Here's a few more shots from a recent diving trip:

En-route south to the Marlborough Sounds


Arrived at the airstrip, it's a one-way landing into the hillside. Plenty of room... just. The XP II Hawk is riding on 8.50's all around, done through a design approval.


Our generous host Cliff, with my father-in-law and my lovely wife! Thanks Cliff for the use of your boat, and the family to crew it! What a great place and a truly great group of people.


Here's the bay / port which we were diving in. A keen eye will see the airstrip in the bottom left corner of the photo:


Father in law with a feed of fish and crayfish (attacking his leg also). Our host's early model straight-tail C172s in the background, plus their 185 can be seen lurking in the hanger. The backcountry connoisseur will notice the WingX installed on the 172.


Flying home with a plane full of wet dive gear, empty tanks, and the bounty of the sea ("Kai Moana"). I have to cruise-climb quite slowly to climb along side the C172 XP... 19" and 2300 in the climb... haha.

Here's a couple of photos from a recent hunting trip - it's the rut season down here in the southern hemisphere (just finished), so hunting is big on the backcountry agenda right now.

We had a lot of wind through this pass, at right angles to the small airstrip. About 22 knots crosswind component. Parked with a tailwind, means flaps down in the Bearhawk.


We just camp next to the plane. It's pretty cold at night!
From this place, we can hunt Red Deer, Chamois, and Himalayan tahr.

amazing!!!

The plane (and ourselves) have been out enduring more cold conditions. Mid-winter hunting is on, once again.



The prize was three stags (red deer) this time, it proved a heavy load to lift off the airstrip. Along with two other guys, we had full winter gear and food to be self sufficient for three days, and enough fuel to get home.



The long grass wet with melted frost, and nil wind didn't help either. The airstrip is about 650ft long, we needed most of it for the plane to pull itself up and out of the long grass.



It was cold.



A couple of shots, flying with friends mid winter:



Rest in Peace, James

Cool thread Battson. I hadn't seen the diving trip report until now. Your country is amazing.

Carry on.

Here are the first of a few snaps from our latest holiday - two weeks of winter aviation in the beautiful south of New Zealand. More content to follow.

Home away from home for NJB this winter.


Our first venture into the outdoors for the holiday.


Wifey standing next to the new shoes - which are almost half her height! haha.


A big thanks to my mother for looking after our baby girl while we enjoyed the outdoors!

Here's a few more holiday snaps... my kind of holiday!



These snaps are from an overnight hunting trip with friends. Very cold out there in tents. We had extremely gusty conditions for our departure and flight home. The air looks clear, but rest assured there was feet of snow falling just on the other side of those mountains - and all the leftover winds were making aviation difficult. It's not often I find myself wanting more horsepower, or to be on the ground in fact, but that day was an exception.


Frosty mornings on a calmer day.


A few other keen pilots out and about enjoying the calm days too!

A couple more snaps from another overnight trip. A cold camping trip...


We have to wait for the sun to warm the plane up a little above freezing, before trying to start the engine... it was still a disturbing experience - although she still goes second blade with the cylinders and oil just above freezing (and yes, it's bad news for the engine - can't be helped in places this remote - no room to haul an engine pre-heater or generator).

Good to see you on those big tires, Jon. Any feedback to report from the rocky river bars in terms of the improved ride?

Looks great on the Bushwheels!

Plane looks proper on Bushwheels! Plenty of pre-heat options that take up very little space/weight. My favorite is one of these inside the cowling for an hour or two...

Zzz wrote:Good to see you on those big tires, Jon. Any feedback to report from the rocky river bars in terms of the improved ride?

Hard to say there was a big difference in ride smoothness, there are other differences -

On sensible river bar rocks like I am used to landing on, per what's shown the video, I can't say the ride was remarkably smoother.
I guess if I really paid attention I could notice a change.
I do notice a difference in rougher stuff - it's more "bump bump bump" than the "bang bang bang" I used to feel with the Goodyears - having only spent twenty hours PIC with them so far, about 50 off airport landings, I think that is their main advantage. Also, I think they excel at cushioning a hard landing to save the bounce.

Whats more, they are good insurance for bad decisions - I will confess to accidentally testing them more severely than I had expected, judging things from the air leave room for error... It's impressive what the bushwheels can absorb, when you get out and see what you just rolled over. But despite the bushwheels, you still hear a pretty dramatic "bang" in the undercarriage when you collide with big things (like 1ft diameter) They prevent a wreck to be sure, but you don't necessarily get off scot-free either. I won't be so gung-ho in future, and my lesson was bushwheels increase capability incrementally, but they are not the difference between night and day.

My 2c only, YMMV

What tire pressure are you using? That makes a big difference. I'd go as low as you can for off airport flying.

So you've collided with 1 foot diameter obstacles, Battson? :O haha. Glad you're still in one piece.

Yes - one lump about 1ft in diameter on an otherwise smooth surface. Long story -

The semi-frozen surface I landed on was covered with tough grassy stuff growing in soft yet semi-frozen soil. As the tire first touched down, rather hard, the surface was torn from the ground and kind of balled-up around itself in a fraction of a second, forming a lump in front of the tire. This happened very quickly, milliseconds, as the stationary tire dragged over the surface to spin up to the speed of the aircraft. The lump quickly got too big for itself and went under the tire with a colossal "bang". The lump of soil and organic matter was half-frozen and rock solid, when I walked back up the airstrip to see what went bang I was quite shocked. I hope I explained that half-way clearly.

The tires were at about 8-10 psi at the time. I was occasionally taxiing on seal between flights, so having the pressure too low wasn't a good choice at the time.

Battson wrote:Yes - one lump about 1ft in diameter on an otherwise smooth surface. Long story -

The semi-frozen surface I landed on was covered with tough grassy stuff growing in soft yet semi-frozen soil. As the tire first touched down, rather hard, the surface was torn from the ground and kind of balled-up around itself in a fraction of a second, forming a lump in front of the tire. This happened very quickly, milliseconds, as the stationary tire dragged over the surface to spin up to the speed of the aircraft. The lump quickly got too big for itself and went under the tire with a colossal "bang". The lump of soil and organic matter was half-frozen and rock solid, when I walked back up the airstrip to see what went bang I was quite shocked. I hope I explained that half-way clearly.

The tires were at about 8-10 psi at the time. I was occasionally taxiing on seal between flights, so having the pressure too low wasn't a good choice at the time.

And that's a testimonial to Alaska Bushwheels!