The Barrows Bearhawk, now also called the Barrows 4-Place Bearhawk, is an American

amateur-built aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

, designed by Bob Barrows and produced by R&B Aircraft of

Fincastle, Virginia Fincastle is a town in Botetourt County, Virginia, United States. The population was 755 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Botetourt County. Fincastle is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The town of Finc ...

, AviPro Aircraft and now Bearhawk Aircraft of

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. The aircraft is supplied as a kit or as plans for amateur construction.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 44. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter – Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 232. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015–16'', page 102. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The Bearhawk was designed as a personal project by Barrows to carry aircraft engines for delivery as freight. It features a

strut-braced In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing co ...

, a four-seat enclosed cabin that is wide and accessed by doors, fixed

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

. The aircraft

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

is made from welded steel tubing covered in doped

aircraft fabric Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

, while the wings are made from

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

sheet. Its span wing employs a NACA 4412 mod

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

, has an area of and mounts flaps. The aircraft's recommended engine power range is and standard engines used include the

Lycoming O-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 produc ...

and

Lycoming O-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming ...

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

powerplants. Construction time from the supplied kit is 1200 hours. The prototype was fitted with a Lycoming O-360 burning automotive fuel.

Operational history

By October 2016, 77 examples had been registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

and 11 with

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

Variants

Donald M Aldridge - j Hatcher Fe Bearhawk Patrol (N774PK)

;Bearhawk (4-Place Bearhawk) :Four seat model with a cabin wide and a gross weight of , with 75 reportedly completed and flown by December 2011. Employs a NACA 4412

. ;Bearhawk Bravo :Improved model introduced at

AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...

in July 2016. The wing has a greater span and greater area and employs a Riblett 30-413.5 airfoil, which gives a higher top speed while retaining a low stall speed. The redesigned airframe also uses aluminum fuselage formers, window sills and door sills, replacing the steel formers and sills in the original model, which provides better corrosion resistance and less weight. The landing gear struts are made of heavy-wall round cross section tubing rather than streamlined tubing, which provides more resistance to sideload failure. ;

Patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology Fro ...

:Two-seats in

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

model with a cabin wide and a gross weight of , with three reportedly completed and flown by December 2011. ; Companion :Two-seats in

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

model, with a gross weight of . First customer deliveries in October 2019.

Specifications (Bearhawk)

References

External links

* {{Bob Barrows aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft 1990s United States civil utility aircraft Bearhawk High-wing aircraft