Hey all, I'm new to this forum and aviation in general but am planning to dive in as quickly as possible. In doing so I am also planning to build a plane. The choice of which to build is not nearly as straightforward as I had hoped... and the situation the plane would be used in doesn't fall cleanly in one category (as far as I can see.)
First, what I have to work with: I have no experience building anything other than some cabinets. Fortunately, I will not be alone on this project; my fellow builder has far more experience than I but only in building/restoring cars, never planes. For tools we have a pretty complete set at our disposal (from work on cars) and no problem with filling in the gaps, so no problems there.
The tricky part of this craft is my partner (my father) and I will be using it for very different purposes. I am hoping to put it on floats and explore the lakes in northern Canada, so I suppose that would qualify as a bush plane. Meanwhile, my father would use it for many frequent flights (at least once a week) all around the midwest. (He presently rents planes for this purpose or takes the long car ride.) So, his concerns will be more along the lines of speed, efficiency and as a side effect of frequent use we both would be very interested in durability/endurance. I consider my concerns more important though as he would be reimbursed for travel costs
Oh yeah, and we both agree we would need a 4-place craft.
Planes I have been considering include (please suggest others if you know of a similar alternative):
> Zenithair CH801
> BushCaddy L164
> AeroComp CA4
> Bearhawk
> Murphy Moose
The CH801 has the advantage of being the cheapest with one of the shortest build times, but from comments here and other places I get the impression you get what you pay for. The BushCaddy is pretty much out, I just left it on the list to round it out. The Moose is my personal favorite, but unless someone has a very compelling reason for the extra cost I fear it is a bit out of our price range.
That means I guess the choice is between the CA4 and the bearhawk. It's tough for me to really compare because I have never personally seen either craft and, at least for the CA4, I had a hard time finding performance numbers. I got the impression though that the CA4 is a bit faster and with a slightly higher range, which my father would appreciate. It also looks a whole lot easier to build. (On that note, does anyone have a built-time number for the bearhawk? I vaguely recall something about 1000 hours, but I am not sure where I saw that.)
From browsing this forum though I get the impression that a lot of you are big fans of the bearhawk. I have no idea why, to me it appears not all that different from the other models. If you could enlighten me I would really appreciate it. Keep in mind that I am at the moment a complete novice, yet I learn quickly and want to learn as much as possible so please be specific and detailed.
I would also be very interested in engine recommendations for each of these craft; what would be best for efficiency? speed? max useful load? I am sure these things are obvious to many of you but I have only some suspicions at the moment which I would like to make more concrete before I commit one way or another.
Any and all comments are appreciated! Any more information you think would help, just ask.
First, what I have to work with: I have no experience building anything other than some cabinets. Fortunately, I will not be alone on this project; my fellow builder has far more experience than I but only in building/restoring cars, never planes. For tools we have a pretty complete set at our disposal (from work on cars) and no problem with filling in the gaps, so no problems there.
The tricky part of this craft is my partner (my father) and I will be using it for very different purposes. I am hoping to put it on floats and explore the lakes in northern Canada, so I suppose that would qualify as a bush plane. Meanwhile, my father would use it for many frequent flights (at least once a week) all around the midwest. (He presently rents planes for this purpose or takes the long car ride.) So, his concerns will be more along the lines of speed, efficiency and as a side effect of frequent use we both would be very interested in durability/endurance. I consider my concerns more important though as he would be reimbursed for travel costs
Oh yeah, and we both agree we would need a 4-place craft.Planes I have been considering include (please suggest others if you know of a similar alternative):
> Zenithair CH801
> BushCaddy L164
> AeroComp CA4
> Bearhawk
> Murphy Moose
The CH801 has the advantage of being the cheapest with one of the shortest build times, but from comments here and other places I get the impression you get what you pay for. The BushCaddy is pretty much out, I just left it on the list to round it out. The Moose is my personal favorite, but unless someone has a very compelling reason for the extra cost I fear it is a bit out of our price range.
That means I guess the choice is between the CA4 and the bearhawk. It's tough for me to really compare because I have never personally seen either craft and, at least for the CA4, I had a hard time finding performance numbers. I got the impression though that the CA4 is a bit faster and with a slightly higher range, which my father would appreciate. It also looks a whole lot easier to build. (On that note, does anyone have a built-time number for the bearhawk? I vaguely recall something about 1000 hours, but I am not sure where I saw that.)
From browsing this forum though I get the impression that a lot of you are big fans of the bearhawk. I have no idea why, to me it appears not all that different from the other models. If you could enlighten me I would really appreciate it. Keep in mind that I am at the moment a complete novice, yet I learn quickly and want to learn as much as possible so please be specific and detailed.
I would also be very interested in engine recommendations for each of these craft; what would be best for efficiency? speed? max useful load? I am sure these things are obvious to many of you but I have only some suspicions at the moment which I would like to make more concrete before I commit one way or another.
Any and all comments are appreciated! Any more information you think would help, just ask.
Last edited:
