A nice email from a Bearhawk Builder regarding a Rebel

[Michael P. Snow]

Some comments from Ken Beanlands over on the Bearhawk list, and posted with
his permission
A nice read:

The Murphy Rebel comes up from time to time on the list. Having recently
returned from vacation in Newfoundland, I thought I'd pass along a little
flight report. I had an opportunity to fly John Waterman's 160 hp Rebel
again. Dad and I arrived at my parents log home to find the rebel, usually
parked in front of the house, gone. about 10 minutes later, Johnny came in
for a landing. I wandered down to the Warf to help him dock only to get an
invitation to go for a flight. We offloaded 2 gallons of Bakeapple berries
(Newfoundland delicacy) and I hopped in.

I've flown this one before but hadn't really taken the time to look at it
closely. The Cub-yellow plane is mounted on Full Lotus inflatable floats.
Unfortunately there is no step mounted on the struts to assist entry,
something Dad intends to install on his newly acquired Rebel Kit. Once in
and seated, the cabin is fairly comfortable, although a little cozy. This
Rebel is definitely a "working plane" with few luxuries such as interior,
noise insulation, radios, etc (there was a hand-held radio bungee-corded to
the panel ;-). The noise level is fairly high, although a good headset
makes short work of it. One thing I didn't like was the overhead flap
lever. It's position and shape could definitely be a problem in rough
conditions or in a crash.

The take-off happened very quickly and in around 1200-1500'. Not bad
considering there were 2 full grown (and I do mean FULL) men on board and
half tanks. Winds were very light as well.

What really impressed me was the cruise speed. At 2500 (max continuous) we
were seeing between 120-125 mph. Pulling back to 2350 showed about
110-115. I was quite surprised at just how fast this thing is on
floats. It's pretty much the same as the 180. The GPS seemed to confirm
our ASI readings.

Flight controls were quite lite requiring the two-fingered approach. The
climb out was a little bumpy but it seemed to come in at over 1000 fpm at
90 mph. In all, quite a pleasant plane.


Ken Beanlands
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Christavia MK 1 #363, C-GREN
Barrows Bearhawk #468
http://www.spots.ab.ca/~kbeanlan



Michael P. Snow




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