The Dakota Hawk N280DH- is almost ready to fly.
The 0-200 overhauled engine is now running
THANKS – CHAMPION AEROSPACE and SLICK MAGS, MARVEL SCHEBLER, B&C, SKYTEC, AIRCRAFT SPECIALTY SERVICES, WESTSTAR EAA CHAPTER 800, THE KEBLER FAMILY, COLORADO AIRPARTS, AND ALL THE OTHERS that helped bring this engine back to life. Now we can taxi the airplane back and forth to the build hanger (weather permitting). We have started working extra week days and with the schools in our area finished the kids are able to work extra days. Anthony is painting the last of the hawk parts and bottom cowl. John and Josiah have finished the engine baffle. The PAC prop is on and the weight and balance has been performed.
MATCO Inc. donated a modification of our existing 6 inch solid tail wheel tire and made it a wide 8 inch tire with a tube. This mod gained about 4 pounds on the tail and is awesome. THANKS MATCO! This airplane features all MATCO LANDING gear and brake parts including their parking brake and copilots brakes. Even with this heaver tire and the ELT in the tail we are still adding about 7 pounds of weight to the tail. With all the repairs and the added systems the airplane’s empty weight came out at about the same empty weight as the original 756 pounds. We are adding 7 pounds of lead in the tail so a 125 pound pilot can fly it without adding baggage weight to keep the airplane in CG. A 200 pound pilot puts the airplane at forward CG as it sets but for our lightweight kids to fly it solo we need the extra weight. The airplane will fly to Oshkosh.