The Bearhawk, designed by Bob Barrows, is unequaled in performance among four-place designs. Its short field/STOL ability, extremely gentle slow flight characteristics and fast cruise speed have the Bearhawk flying far above the rest. want one!” The Patrol had caught my eye,
main wheel touch down, I just let the tail
Time enough for three more takeoff and
and I was especially drawn to it. I felt like
float down until the tailwheel was on the
landings to finish the day.
I was cheating on my Bearhawk. I even
runway. Beautiful! The Patrol is the best
found myself mulling the idea of putting
two-wheel landing taildragger I have ever
my unfinished Bearhawk into storage and
flown, and this was on pavement (once
starting a Patrol kit.
again I’m being lured to the Patrol).
Landing back at the strip I went directly to
Once fueled and flying again, I had one
crosswind when you want one!) So I played
the hangar and spent some quality time
last objective: to see what the cruse speed
with short field takeoff and landings.
with the Bearhawk to help get my mind
for the Patrol is. Most of my flying for the
“out of the gutter.”
day had been slow speed, that is if you
With a couple good slaps to the face, I was
consider 110 “slow.” I leveled off at 3,000
ready to fly the Patrol over to the local fuel pump for gas. It was a good chance to see how the Patrol did on a paved runway. The first landing was a three-point, and not surprisingly was stable with no tendency to wander off centerline—one of the most comfortable landings I’ve felt on pavement with a taildragger. I took it around for another landing this time for a two-point main wheels landing. With three notches of flaps crossing the fence and
feet and let the speed stabilize with power set at 24 square. Giving it several minutes to stabilize, then just monitoring the airspeed indicator for a while, it showed an honest 140 IAS for a 150 true.
I was hoping the wind would pick up as forecast, so I could try some crosswind takeoff and landings, but the winds weren’t cooperative. (You can’t even get a
The takeoff ground roll in the short field configuration, holding the tail lightly on the ground, is very similar to the Bearhawk, short and quick. The Patrol leaped into the air, nose high. The difference with the Patrol is you don’t want to maintain the nose high attitude after takeoff as it doesn’t accelerate in the initial attitude
Because the air was choppy, it would drift
like the Bearhawk does (single occupant
five over and three under so it seemed a
anyway). Just a little pitch over and the
like a good ballpark number. Plenty fast
Patrol is climbing and accelerating quickly,
enough to get somewhere quick, if needed.
comfortably and effortlessly.
One thing a little surprising is, even with the bumps of the afternoon thermals, it
Having had a chance to fly both the Bearhawk 4-Place and the Bearhawk
flying the main wheels onto the runway,
was still a comfortable ride at 140 IAS.
the airplane tracked straight. It didn’t feel
The cruise speed test had taken me
appreciation for both airplanes, but in
like I needed to promptly get the tailwheel
way past the ranch. So I turned around,
particular the Patrol. My personal focus
on the runway for better control. So, after
flew back and set up in the pattern.
has always been on the Bearhawk.
18 • Bearhawk Magazine • www.bearhawkaircraft.com
Patrol, I have gained an even stronger