Ok, so I know I won't get much sympathy, but probably a lot of suggestions......
I have a new dilema. I rather like this problem. I'm sure it will be short lived but here it is.

I fly our little RV 6 into the PNW every summer. I try dilligently to drag along camping gear, etc. but alas the wee little RV won't hold much and definately no bicycles or big ice chest O' beverages.

With my latest shopping spree (Bearhawk) I now have a quandry, which plane to take on our little adventure to and from the PNW, starting in hellishly hot S AZ.

The next issue is of course, if we take the Bearhawk, where can we stop and camp along the way?
Last summer we took the 6 into JC, but couldn't get very sporty with wheelpants and little food stores. So we were limited to nice grass and oft times paved surfaces.

The upside of taking the 6 is an autopilot and faster speed. The upside of the Bearhawk is we can land anywhere. Looking at many of the potential places I would like to stop along the way I see pvt. Is this the norm? There seems to be a bunch of cool looking places in ID, many marked pvt. Is is difficult to arrange permission in general, or are some places better than others?

Anyone want to buy a nice RV6......I keed' I keed'

Not a bad quandary to be in.

Reading your post the RV advantages are only the speed and the autopilot over the Bearhawk.

My opinion, we fly because we like to fly, meaning, is the speed really relevant when your out exploring?

Also, you refer to "we". Can I assume your pax is a pilot? If so, there is your autopilot.

Rich

PittsDriver wrote:Also, you refer to "we". Can I assume your pax is a pilot? If so, there is your autopilot.

Haha, true! Even non pilots work well for this! If I have a passenger that's interested in flying I usually handle the take off / landing and not much else besides the radios. Non-pilots require more frequent alt/hdg/airspeed tweaks but usually do just fine after some time behind the yoke/stick.

This is my kind of problem!

I looked into getting an RV6 or 7 for quite a while as a replacement to our 170 while we're rebuilding our other 170. (you can never have too many 170s, right?)

The RVs are very nice, very capable and very fast (relative to a 170) but don't really carry much of anything. The long trips (where that speed really comes into play) don't work very well compared to a slower airplane that has a spare sofa in the back.

The RV is aerobatic - to a point but not SO aerobatic to keep it around for that task. Stardusters and Skybolts are cheaper and more fun.

If I had a hangar, I'd have the 170 and a Pitts. Best of both worlds.
I don't have a hangar so, once 170 #1 sells, I'll have a Yak52 and 170 #2 in my garage for a few years.

There are lots of fantastic places to land and camp in Idaho so don't feel limited. The "Fly Idaho" book is a great reference. http://www.flyidaho.com/store/

There is also a lot of information available from the Idaho Aviation Association at: https://idahoaviation.com/idahoAirstripNetwork.php

The Idaho Division of Aeronautics also has an IPad/IPhone app available that is a nice facilities directory https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idaho-airports/id535900069?ls=1&mt=8. They also publish an Idaho Chart that is a great reference although very out of date by now. You can order from IDT or pick one up for $10 from the Johnson Creek caretaker (highly recommended). QEI publishing also sells them at a higher price.

I'm not sure which private strips you are referring too in ID, but there are so many public strips, I've never found it to by much of a concern. Some of the strips listed as private are hazardous mountain strips under private ownership so they don't want visitors and when they do allow landing want to be sure the pilot and plane can safely operate there. You can always attempt to contact the owners or just post a list of strips you are curious about here, as someone may have updated knowledge about the strip or owner. The owner may even monitor this site...

Have fun on your adventure, the more you go, the more you'll realize how many places are available. The best time to visit certain areas also varies by season. In the summer, we enjoy Smiley Creek, Sulphur Creek, JC, Big Creek, Moose Creek (not when hot), Cavanaugh Bay, Stehiken (WA), Sullivan Lake (WA), Schafer Meadows (MT), Ryan Field (MT, RAF). We go to many other places also, but the list above is a good start. Some are wilderness strips with only primitive camping available. Others have amenities so it just depends on what your comfortable with.

Some of the strips listed as private do allow guests. Those are places like Flying B, Mackay Bar, Temperance Creek, Seven Devils, Green Valley Ranch, Minam (OR), Reds (OR) to name just a few.

ShortField.com is also a great reference as well as posting more questions here.

I'm pretty sure that you already made the decision for yourself, on the day you bought a Bearhawk. Buying the BH when you already have an RV was (probably) because you like camping and sightseeing, or hunting and fishing, or low and slow, and you wanted an airplane specifically to do that stuff.

So if your trip is about fun, camping, and sightseeing then take the trip at 500 AGL, find little treasures and surprises along the way with the Bearhawk's capability. One of those capabilities is to take a little portable air conditioning unit https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/fb ... -pilot.php in the airplane with you, for those pleasant summer afternoons in So. AZ.

OK, let me tip the scales a little further for you.... Lay out the route of travel to your destination and back, in general, wide-area terms. Then go to this website: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

Look up the areas that are near your route on the website, and you will find dozens and dozens of historic and "hidden treasure" places, airports you never heard of, history that will come alive and enrich your trip at almost no extra cost. If you have any appreciation of interesting and perhaps forgotten history, whether American history or aviation history, you will have a blast finding some of these places. A lot of them will make unique campsites. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but visiting some of these places always gives me the chills. I'm pretty sure that a lot of these airfields' spirits will appreciate having an airplane come in and say hi

A thought on part of your alleged dilemma: speed is over-rated in the light GA community. Here's what I mean. Let's say that your RV has a 155 knot TAS. So you leave Tucson bound for Anacortes, WA, a straight line distance of 1120 miles. Assume no wind, that's a 7 1/4 hours, with at least one stop for fuel/food. Since "no wind" is unlikely as is straight line, it's going to be one heckuva long, tiring day. Much safer to make it a couple days, and arrive much more refreshed on the second day.

Alternatively, if you take the Bearhawk, you'll be lucky to see 130 knots, probably less if you're running big tires. Again assuming the straight line run and no wind, that's 8 2/3 flight hours, plus the single required stop. Or maybe you'd make 2 stops. Again, though, it's a comfortable 2 day trip, but a really tiring one day trip.

FWIW, in the distant past, Wife 1 and the kids and dog and I used to take a family vacation in our partnered 182, which I flight planned for 130 knots. Due to pressure from the distaff side, that was always a one-day trip covering 1100 miles. We always stopped twice, because the kids couldn't make it longer than 2-3 hours between potty stops depending on the time of day. We had to leave early, because our destination airport was a shorty surrounded by trees, and night landings were discouraged. I had no autopilot, but Wife 1 was a good relief pilot--no certificate, but she'd soloed and could hold altitude and heading well. By the end of the trip either direction, I was so bushed that the next day was wasted as I recovered--and I was only in my early through mid-30s and in pretty good physical shape. So for my practical purposes, it was really a 2 day trip anyway.

My recommendation: take the Bearhawk, take whatever you want along with you, stop wherever you'd like along the way, and enjoy the trip itself.

Cary

I dunno... I have an RV-7a and a bonanza V35B (although I had a Maule). If I didn't want to bump around and watch the scenery, I'd take the RV. If I was gonna land on some really unimproved strips, I'd take the Bearhawk. Traveling with two people, I have never found the RV to be under advantaged, in terms of stuff needed for a trip. You can fit a lot of crap behind those seats and still be under GW.

Jim

Since this thread involved RV sportplanes, and camping, and Bearhawks, and which airplane can do what... there is one interesting exception to this discussion worth mentioning. One of the guys here on the west coast has an airplane called "The Scarlet Screamer". It is a Harmon Rocket (RV-4 on Steroids, maybe bigger and badder than the RV-8). I think it's a 540 size motor. He flies it into the back country and uses it as a bushplane to a pretty good degree. The high power lets it fly slowly when he needs to, and it blasts off the ground at an alarming rate. The RV derived airplanes have a fairly low wing loading. This aircraft does a remarkable job at bridging the gap between hotrod go-fast airplanes and short field capable airplanes.

Obviously not a "working" bushplane type of deal, and no match for a Bearhawk as a flying camper, but he can get into some very backwoods places with a bunch of camping gear. And then get good and gone to the next destination approaching 200 knots.

Wow, thanks guys for all the great resource links. A whole new world opening up here right before my eyes.

Cary, your trip breakdown was very helpful. I've done the PNW trip in a day and in two. One day is very long and also requires two stops anyway to have good margins at the PNW (wx) end.

The BH can do the trip with one stop, not sure I can. My husband has no issue sitting in an airplane. He's usually snoring.

So, the BH it will be this trip. I need to pick up a bit smaller
Mtn bike for Skip. His has big wheels. And the kitchen sink, we'll bring the kitchen sink too.


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EZFlap, the Freeman link is very interesting. I almost blew off the portable a/c link in the spruce catalog......that actually looks quite nice, if the ice chest can double as a regular ice chest.



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Blackrock,
thanks for the links. I have the ID aeronautics app. Didn't know about IAA and need to get the fly Idaho book.
I was looking at Flying B as one potential spot.
I'm trying to reel in my exuberance. Feeling like a kid in a candy store, I want to fly into everywhere. Take the summer off.
I still need to determine amenities at the various strips. Helps with packing. Time to draw some lines on the charts.

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acroflyrgirl wrote:Blackrock,
thanks for the links. I have the ID aeronautics app. Didn't know about IAA and need to get the fly Idaho book.
I was looking at Flying B as one potential spot.
I'm trying to reel in my exuberance. Feeling like a kid in a candy store, I want to fly into everywhere. Take the summer off.
I still need to determine amenities at the various strips. Helps with packing. Time to draw some lines on the charts.

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You're welcome. The Flying B (http://www.flyingresortranches.com/) is a great place and they do accommodate non member guests, with prior permission. If you're not comfortable operating in narrow river canyons, it is recommended to take someone who's experienced with that strip before you try it for the first time, however. Idaho Backcountry strips are a different environment than what I'm assuming you're used to, so forgive me if that isn't the case. The Bearhawk is a great plane for that and with your considerable experience in them, you'll quickly be more comfortable once you become familiar with the environment. Sulphur Creek (http://sulphurcreekranch.com/), about 40 miles upstream (south), is a more open setting and also is a great destination.

This is a photo of the Flying B Ranch. The airstrip is just off the bottom of the photo, to give some idea of the setting.


Wendy departing Sulphur Creek in her PA-12: