This 4-place Bearhawk is one of the first aircraft produced in the series. In fact, a picture of this half-completed Bearhawk is featured in the Bearhawk Builder's Manual! However, the Bearhawk spent eight years operating in Haiti, supporting orphanages by transporting people and supplies. Haiti is a very hot, sun soaked, salty environment and that's a harsh environment for an airplane to live. The missionary and builder of the Bearhawk flew it the whole way from Haiti to our hangar at MMS Aviation in Ohio. That airplane had a squawk list longer than an Amish preacher's sermon on a hot Sunday in a stuffy meetinghouse and so we were all very grateful for the missionary's safe arrival at the hangar. It was time to dig into this project!
The finished Bearhawk, bound for use in Haiti.
Video: The Bearhawk Project
That time we completely disassembled a Bearhawk, sandblasted the frame, and rebuilt it from the ground up.