First kit-built Bearhawk flies

I am reposting this from the Bearhawk e-mail forum:

Budd Davisson wrote:
A few minutes ago word came down that mid-afternoon Thursday, Mark
Goldberg's
AviPro Bearhawk flew for the first time at Lakeway Airport in Austin,
Texas. Jim Clevenger came in from the Builder's Assistance Center
in Kissimmee, Florida to do the test flights and said, "It was
totally uneventful, if you don't count using
very little runway on takeoff."

During engine test runs the temperatures had run high and there was
concern that
would be a problem, but Clevenger said the heads were running about
375 degrees and the oil about 190. This was on a 60 degree day.
"I think Mark's airspeed is off a little because I was showing 155 mph
at 23/2300
and it's just hard to believe the airplane would be that fast.
Tomorrow, I'll get
the GPS up get some better numbers." As to how the airplane
handled he says, "Remember this is the first flight so my
primary concern was keeping the thing running and getting it back on
the ground.
However, the ailerons were about as pleasant as you'll find on any
airplane. The
rudder is extremely powerful and it takes almost no pressure so at
first I had to
concentrate for coordinated turns but that disappeared in a couple
minutes. The
trim is sensitive and tomorrow we're going to reduce the ratio back at
the trim
tabs and slow them down. "I had more than enough trim to fly a 65
mph final, but I was probably going slower than that." Mark
received his kit (production number 001) in August of 2001 so it was
almost
exactly 15 months, start to finish. His airplane uses a factory new 0-
540 swinging
an 84" Hartzell. Over the next couple of days as they do more test
flights, I'll keep everyone in
the loop. We may have some pix tomorrow too. Very cool, huh?
bd

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
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