Dakota Hawk N280DH First Flight Post Rebuild

Don Coleman took the Dakota Hawk up for its first flight after the rebuild.

HAWK had several individual aviation pros go over the Dakota Hawk for problems and give it a clean, ready to fly, bill of health.

Thanks Dave Baxter – he will be with us at AirVenture with 3 of his boys he is one of HAWK’s IA’s and CFI’s he was very thorough.

Also Steve Wood looked it over after his presentation at last month’s EAA chapter 800 meeting. (Anyone who missed the EAA 800 meeting missed a really good presentation on Harmonics and their effects on aircraft engines. Steve did some of the original structural work on the Dakota Hawk wings when fisher products first started. Steve is an accomplished aeronautical engineer and has worked as an engineer for Cessna Aircraft. (Steve designed the Sky pup years ago and plans are still available). He is also currently Director of the Grand Junction Regional Airport Board. Watch for Steve’s next airplane – it is flying and is a real piece of metal ingenuity but that is a story for another day.

Also thanks Lowell Manery and Graham of EAA chapter 1373. Lowell and Graham flew in and went over the airplane after everyone else; Seems under Graham’s sharp eye the trailing edge of the horizontal to elevator hinge line is not straight. Another problem from the original build, its minor but still needs attention. I even missed this one.

Eddie reminds us: “ALWAYS’S ALWAYS have a second or 3rd or 4th set of experienced eyes look and critique your Build. You may think something is correct but you are so used to looking at the stuff you go blind to problems; I learned this rebuilding Type certificated airplanes at Wegner aircraft. We always had a final inspection by someone not familiar with the rebuild. There have been numerous accidents caused by such simple items as the trim tab rigged backwards.”