Erin and Paul, the dynamic husband-wife pilot duo, have taken their passion for aviation to new heights by building their very own Bearhawk 5. In this episode, they share the incredible journey of finding the perfect aircraft, navigating the world of airplane kits, and the challenges of construction, all while balancing their personal and professional lives. Their story is not just about the mechanics of building a plane; it's also about the adventures that flying brings, including their recent experience at Oshkosh, where they celebrated the culmination of their hard work. Along the way, they discuss the importance of community and support in aviation, the exciting features of their new plane, and their plans for a nomadic lifestyle in the skies. Join us as we dive into their inspiring journey and discover the joys and challenges of becoming owners of a custom-built aircraft.

Takeaways:

• Building your own airplane can be a rewarding experience, especially with a supportive builder assist program to guide you through the process.
• The journey of becoming pilots has opened up new adventures and opportunities for Erin and Paul, allowing them to explore their passion for aviation.
• Their Bearhawk 5 is designed to be versatile, capable of fast cruising and slow landings, making it suitable for various flying experiences.
• The couple plans to transform their Bearhawk into a modular camping setup, allowing for a nomadic lifestyle filled with travel and exploration.
• Leveraging advanced avionics like Garmin and Sirius XM enhances safety and situational awareness when flying, particularly during challenging weather conditions.
• Support from the aviation community, including mentors and friends, plays a crucial role in navigating the challenges of building and flying an aircraft.

Episode 336 of the pilot the Pilot Podcast takes off Now.

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Visit learnthefinerpoints.com justin to save 10% off your first year, all pilots need the big weather picture and I use Sirius XM Aviation to check the fronts, airmets, segments, turbulence, pireps and more while in pre flighting and in route.

All to give my passengers and me the most comfortable flight possible.

And now with the latest offer from SiriusXM, there's never been a better time to upgrade your next flight with a Garmin GDL52 portable receiver to bring SiriusXM and ADS B weather plus traffic into your cockpit.

We're Aaron and Paul and we're husband wife pilot duo flying our Bearhawk 5 that we just built over the past five months here in Oklahoma.

So AV Nation, what is going on?

And welcome back to the Pilot the Pilot podcast.

My name is Justin Seams and I am your host.

Today's episode is with Aaron and Paul.

You might know them from Aaron and Paul flies.

They have just built probably one of the cooler airplanes planes I've seen in a while.

No offense to anyone else that's currently building an airplane or has built an airplane but this plane was sick.

I saw it outside the Garmin tent at EAA Oshkosh, which we'll talk about this later but if you weren't there you need to go.

It was amazing, but it was sweet.

It's a Bearhawk 5.

I thought it was just a Bearhawk but they told me it's a Bearhawk 5.

So there's four other airplanes they have which is sick.

Bear Hawk, congratulations, your airplane's awesome.

They're talking about their how they were trying to find an airplane that was perfect for them and they were not willing to kind of give in to that.

They wanted the best airplane they possibly could.

They went down the route of possib buying an airplane and put some offers in but for one reason or another it just didn't work out.

So they went with the Bearhawk five.

They built it in what seems like a day, but it was a legit full build process.

And they did the build assist program and they documented the whole thing, which was so cool to see.

Do I want a Bearhawk?

I don't know.

I mean, just talking to them was kind of cool.

So podcast and Bearhawks, that sounds kind of cool.

But I did joke with him a little bit about their name.

I am actually on Aaron side where I don't like the name Tina.

I'm just going to throw it out there.

So if you're against that, I'm sorry, you're against the podcast.

This is what it is.

But aviation, it was a lot of fun talking with them as a lot of fun having them on.

They're an awesome couple, they're awesome people and I really, really look forward to seeing how they're going to build out their airplane.

As they have just said in this podcast, they are not necessarily done.

They're going to do some modular camping stuff to it and truly live the nomadic life, which is awesome.

AV Nation, I hope you're enjoying these podcasts.

I know it's been a little bit since we've had one on.

As I've said in a few other podcasts, there is just craziness going on in my life and a lot of stuff going on.

And one day maybe you talk about it.

One day maybe not.

But Oshkosh is great re energized again to to go in on content and continue to make podcasts.

So this is the first one we've released in probably a month, but recording another one later this week and we're getting back after it.

So podcasts are coming back.

There's gonna be consistency to it.

They're going to be continuous and it is not going to be stopping.

So I appreciate everyone that's reached out and it was awesome seeing everyone at Oshkosh.

My buddy Joe from Germany fly with Captain Joe.

It was great seeing you.

It was awesome hanging out and having a lot of fun.

So we will see you hopefully next Tuesday because this one's coming out pretty quick.

So we're going to get another podcast recorded on Thursday and we will have that one out coming next Tuesday as well.

So, AV Nation, as always, I appreciate you listening this podcast and without any further ado, here is Aaron and Paul flies Aaron and Paul, what's going on?

Welcome to the Pilot to Pilot podcast, dude.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah, we're so excited to be here.

Yeah, this is actually the first podcast I've ever had with two people on the other side.

So if it doesn't work out, well, who knows I've only talked to one person, the other side.

I might get shy and just be like, oh, that's too much.

But we'll make it work.

It's gonna be a good one.

I'm excited to have you guys on.

I mean, I feel like everyone's seen the plane that you've built and has kind of seen what you've done with.

With social media and where you are today.

And, I mean, everyone's jealous of Tina except for the name.

Before we started recording, I told Paul and Aaron that I am on Aaron's side and not a huge fan of the Tina name.

So if they can change it, we'll.

At the end of this podcast, we're going to change the name.

Yeah, I like this idea, Justin.

We'll do, like, a whole new poll.

Yeah, I like.

I got you.

I got you a whole new poll.

We're doing it again.

That'll probably backfire again, like the last one.

Yeah, yeah, we'll give it a shot.

But the first thing I always ask everyone is, is why did you guys get into aviation and what was kind of what started it?

Yeah.

Well, I think it probably started with me back when I was a kid.

My grandpa was a Navy pilot, and he flew for Alaska Airlines for 40 years.

So, man, I grew up, like, playing with planes all the time.

I remember thinking, I would love to fly planes, but I didn't ever think it was realistic.

Like, aviation is expensive.

I always saw it was something that I could never do.

And a advertisement for a flight school popped up on my screen one night, and I started training.

We'd go, let's see, at my.

My travel assignment was in Fresno, California, and we would fly to the coast when we couldn't drive anywhere.

And so we'd fly out to the coast, we'd, like, grab a hotel, we would grab some clam chowder, walk on the beach.

And aviation became this thing for Aaron and I that was a window to adventure.

It was like this ability to get away and do something that we couldn't do otherwise.

And I think that's where the bug bit Aaron.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because I didn't grow up around aviation.

Like, none of my family were pilots or anything.

And so, honestly, I just had never even thought of it.

It was never even an idea to me.

And I didn't even know that, like, general aviation existed.

I knew that, like, you could have a career as a pilot, but I didn't realize, like, you could enjoy aviation just for fun too.

So when Paul got his license and we were doing all these weekend trips, it was really like the travel and, like, the adventure.

And we were living in Fresno at the time, and if anyone knows where Fresno is, it's kind of in the armpit of California.

And so.

And with COVID too, and everything being shut down, it was like an opportunity.

I was like, oh, well, we could still rent the plane and go have fun and have weekend adventures and just go fly to the coast for the day and still fly back.

And so to me, aviation, like, and the idea of becoming a pilot bit me when we were doing these, like, weekend trips for fun.

And it was like seeing the opportunities it was brought to you, that was readily a feasible in other ways.

So.

Yeah.

So were your parents shocked when you're like, I'm gonna be a pilot too?

Yeah, I know they were.

They definitely were.

Honestly, it was that.

And then it was also, personally, a little bit of, like, my challenge in my head that I was like, if Paul got his pilot's license, I could get my pilot's license.

You're like, I know how smart Paul is.

If he can do it, I can do it.

I was like, I gotta prove this to myself.

He can do what I can do.

That's really funny.

I love a load of good couple competition.

You know, it's healthy.

It's like, who's flying left seat this flight?

I know we rock, paper, scissors.

That's awesome.

I love it.

How'd you guys meet?

We met in undergrad, so Paul's a fifth year senior, and then I was a freshman, so kind of robbed the cradle on that one.

Love it.

Love it, dude.

We met in choir, though.

I think that's.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's awesome.

We were both in collegiate inquire.

We traveled.

It was an acapella ensemble.

And okay, yeah, she was a freshman that walked in.

I was like, hey, how you doing?

Yeah.

And then we did, like, long distance for, like, four years or so.

So after he graduated, I finished school.

He started travel nursing.

But with him, with travel nursing, he was able to, like, still set aside a lot of time that we were able to see each other about, like, Every three weeks or so, so it worked out.

Where'd you guys go for undergrad?

We went to a small private school in Indiana.

It's called Indiana Westland University.

I've heard of it before.

You have?

Yes, I have.

Wow.

I feel like you're one of 10 people I know.

Like no one's ever heard of it.

I have heard of it before.

I had friends.

I went to Ohio State, so not too far away.

But I knew people in Ohio.

That went well.

I didn't know the people, but their family members went to Indiana Wesleyan, so.

Or Indiana Wesleyan, not Indiana.

Did I say it wrong?

No, we're good.

Whatever.

Anyways, yes, I've heard of it before.

Are you guys Midwest originally?

Yeah, kind of.

I'm from Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania.

And I call Kansas City home.

Oh, I actually knew that.

Kyle told me that.

You're right.

From Olathe, right?

Yeah, Olathe.

Yeah.

Which is actually.

It's fun now, working with Garmin and getting to be a part of their family.

Because when in high school, right across the street from Garmin International is a Culver's, and I would go there after class, like, probably three or four times a week and finish up my math homework there.

Like, vivid memories of just staring at Garmin as I'm doing homework.

And you would look at Garmin, like, one day your 80 watts will be in my airplane one day.

I don't know it yet, but it's gonna happen.

I'm manifesting it.

Exactly.

So, Paul, you mentioned that you had a family member that flew for Alaska.

Um, there was never any kind of idea of, like, growing up or before you decided to be a nurse or anything like that.

Like, hey, I could be a pilot too.

No.

Yeah.

Not as a career.

And I. I don't know if that just wasn't a conversation my parents had with me.

I don't know if I actually haven't even talked to my dad about this.

Like, was this just not a lifestyle that you wanted?

I. I'm not sure.

It just wasn't an option.

It was like the.

The career routes that were always talk to us was like health care or the science, the sciences or computer science, things like that.

But never going airlines.

Yeah.

And I didn't.

I wasn't exposed to it.

I didn't even think about, oh, I could be like my grandpa and go fly for Alaska.

Like, that's a job that I could have.

I always thought of it as something you could do for fun on the side.

And it wasn't something that I saw as being achievable in my life when I was a kid, at least.

Yeah, I can relate to that.

My dad was actually an airline pilot and so is my grandpa.

But I played sports my whole life, so I was so focused on sports.

But I didn't fly a single engine plane until my first flight.

Less than a 21.

So even with my dad being a pilot, like, I didn't even really realize what the GA community was like.

I only saw it as a profession and as a career.

It's like I. I knew there were small plans, but I had no idea what GA looked like until I actually took my first flight.

So even being that close to it, you can still kind of just like be so far removed from it at the time, which is crazy.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

It's like the thing that dad does or it's the thing that grandpa does, but not just thing that Justin and Paul.

Yeah, exactly.

Right.

Yeah.

But now we do.

Now we do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

When you're travel nursing and you're going around and you're kind of like, man, I'm bored and I'm gonna go be a pilot.

Aaron, were you like, what are you doing?

Like, what are you where you are a nurse, you're making good money.

I'm guessing this is before.

Was this before kind of like travel nursing took off?

Because wasn't that more like a Covid, like where the pay was like, absolutely insane?

Yeah, yeah.

So Paul just probably like, what are you doing with your life?

Like, you have your career.

Don't do something else.

Yeah, yeah.

No, honestly.

Yeah, I was, I was excited for him with it.

I don't feel like I ever like second guessed it, really.

I was just like, this is so cool.

He was in travel nursing, like you said, prior to like Covid and stuff.

So he had been in it for a while.

And like, honestly, you make good money as a travel nurse.

And I was like, go do it.

Like, if you're going to have a fun, like, hobby doing it, why not?

I support you.

And yeah, I remember being a part of one of his flight lessons when he was in his private back in Louisville and it was the first time I'd ever been in a GA aircraft and him and his instructor did zero gravity and gave me absolutely no warning.

And for the longest time, every time there was like any sort of like movement in the plane, I was just like gripping the seats and stuff.

So, yeah, I was always supporting.

But then it gave me like, anxiety.

After my first flight with him, she.

Almost never flew again.

After that flight, we did it, like, three times in a row, too.

And she was like, we better land now, or else.

This is not gonna.

Everyone's gonna be cleaning this airplane.

I don't blame you, Aaron.

I would have been the same way.

But I.

Look, get me out of this.

I'm never flying again.

So kudos to you for overcoming that and being like, no, I'm gonna do it.

I think that's really cool.

How long was it after Paul got his rating that you actually decided to do it?

I had played with the idea for a while.

Like, when we were in California, like, every time we were going on the trip, I was talking about it, and we would, like, briefly mention it.

Like, I think it'd be so cool if I also got my license.

And we both, like, flew, like, I don't know, both of us together.

But it wasn't until we moved to Arizona, so I think it was, like, two years later that I was like, all right, I'm going to work on, like, getting my private and stuff.

And then I just, like, dove into it.

So, yeah, at that point, honestly, I had, like, this major, like, career shift where I had started, like, my photography business.

Things started growing in that direction really well, and I think it kind of boosted my confidence a little bit that, like, all right, I was able to achieve, like, a goal that I thought was impossible with growing my photography business.

Like, maybe I can actually, like, put time aside and get my pilot's license for real.

So, yeah, it was.

I think that kind of pivoted things a little bit more in that way.

Yeah.

And what brought you guys out to Arizona?

Paul's a truck.

Like, his travel contracts.

Oh, cool.

Nice.

And then you guys just kind of liked it there.

Are you still doing travel nursing right now?

No, I.

My last contract was three years ago now.

Oh, it's been a while.

It has been.

Yeah.

I'm barely a nurse anymore, so if.

Anything happens, I'm not going to trust you.

Yeah.

Please don't.

Help me.

Help me.

No.

Erin's business took off while we were there in Phoenix, and she kind of hired me out of nursing to be her second shooter, so.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Good for you.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

So that's kind of what kept us out there a little bit.

Like, his travel nurse brought us out there, and then, like, our business took off, so we.

Yeah, that kind of planted us a little bit more there.

Yeah, it's a little bit different than Arizona and Kansas.

Arizona is a little bit different than Kansas City and Indiana definitely, for sure.

Or Pennsylvania.

Yeah, yeah.

A little bit different.

A little nicer maybe, I would say.

But that's really cool.

When you guys were kind of in the grind of the photo business, was there any trying to do kind of influencing type stuff or content creation at all?

Or was this kind of idea of Aaron and Paul just flying related?

Yeah, no, I had started.

It was at that point that I had started creating our account Aaron and Paul Fly.

And it was because I was documenting all these weddings and stuff like that.

I was capturing other people's memories and I was like, you know what, we're starting this whole new journey of like my pilot's license.

I might as well like capture that.

And honestly, we had even thought of like, I mean, we didn't have the name Aaron Paul Fly for our like Instagram at that point, but when we were flying coast to coast, or not coast to coast from like Fresno to the coast, same thing.

We had like played around.

Yeah, I know you're like, you mean from middle Ca.

Anyway, but I had started playing around with that idea and like during COVID times, a lot of these like creators were popping up in the travel like, niches that I was following.

And like, again, I didn't grow up around aviation, so I wasn't really looking at aviation creators at that point, but I was looking at a lot of other travel creators, like Lovers Passport or Danny the Explorer and stuff.

And I was watching them grow and make like an income through it.

And that always like, really piqued my interest.

And so when I saw that I was able to like create an income through like photography doing weddings, I was like, maybe like, we could do a little bit of stuff over there and poply or something.

So I just started documenting it because I was like, one.

It's a cool scrapbook of memories to have.

But like, also this could be like a really cool like side hustle or like maybe career down the road.

So was it hard to go from being the one taking the photo to being like the subject content or being in front of the camera?

Was that difficult?

Oh, 1,000%.

Yeah, there were.

There were times early in, while we were still in Fresno that we would just like sit down at the table and we put a camera in front of us and we just talked to the camera for a while just to try to like, figure out how.

And we still have some of those videos and when we watch them, like, like, oh my gosh, they're so cringe.

Yeah, they will never see public.

No, they're coming Right now.

I need one of them right now.

We're gonna put it up.

Overlay this on YouTube.

Hi.

It's not natural.

It's.

It's not.

No, it's not.

It's not.

I. I have one, too.

I think it was, like, in the heyday of, like, when vlogging first started.

I mean, like, Logan Paul, like, all that.

Kind of like the Jake Paul, like, all that and talking.

Casey Neistat.

I remember I tried to film myself talking from the camera, and I watch back, and I'm like, what?

My wife's like, what are you doing?

Like, I don't know.

Just trying to be cool.

And it was not cool.

You gotta, like, start somewhere and stuff, I guess.

Yeah, I guess you could say, I guess now I talk in front of a camera, and maybe I figured it out, but I always say fake it till you make it.

So just continue to try until somehow you think you did it.

But it's still awkward.

Like, when I turn on the camera, I'm like, all right, I'm staring at a camera right now.

This is weird.

Yeah.

Because I didn't do video podcasts for the first probably, like, five years.

So, I mean, I would have, like, a dark, dark room.

I'd have, like, a hoodie on.

I'd just be, like, hosted up, just, like, talking to people.

Now I cannot do that, probably.

I mean, I still could, but probably not the best.

You're, like, embracing your emo self.

Yeah.

Oh, for sure.

My.

My introverted self was coming out.

Very true right there.

That was great.

Like, flashback podcast for us, you know, just post.

All right.

The hoodie on.

I should be like, welcome to the pilot.

The pilot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'll go back to Chicago, and I'll get it done up there.

Oh, that'd be gold.

What kind of ratings do you guys all have right now?

I think I've.

Aaron, did you finish your instrument?

Are you currently doing your instrument?

You finished it?

Yeah, I finished my instrument last summer, and then.

Yes.

Private instrument.

High performance and complex, so.

Oh, sweet.

And, Paul, you just did your CFI in, like, three days.

Three days.

It felt like it.

Yeah, it felt like it for me, too.

I was watching along.

I was like, I do not want to have anything to do with it, man.

It was 21 days.

It was the longest one, 21 days of my life.

Longest and shortest.

Like, I wouldn't recommend anyone do it.

Like, it was.

It was tough, but, yeah, I got it done.

I skipped my cfi, thankfully.

But I'm very proud of you.

For doing it.

It's a, It's a big deal.

I think it's, it's one.

It's one of the hardest check rides to do.

It's one of the hardest things that you can do, I think when you are becoming a pilot.

And it is not easy.

And I was like, I'm going to get this aerial survey job piece.

I am not doing this.

So, man, good for you.

I think that's also a good reminder though, like there are so many other ways to build ours.

For sure.

I feel we're all pounded.

Cfi.

Cfi.

But there's so much out there.

Yeah.

I mean, I talked to one person a long, long time ago.

They flew like a champ over the water like 100 miles out over the Pacific trying to like fish spot for people.

And then he build like a thousand hours doing that.

There's.

If you.

It's all about who you know and all the opportunities that come up to you.

And people do banner towing, people do other cool stuff.

But yeah, CFI is, I think, one of the best ways to do it.

I was just so tired of taking check rides.

I was like, oh my gosh, I want to get paid to fly.

And then you barely get paid to fly, but it's still better than paying to fly.

Yeah, but.

Yeah, that's right.

You're right.

Check rides are this, this special thing that very few people in the world get to experience.

But it is.

Yeah, it is.

It's an experience to prep and then to do the check ride.

I try to talk to my parent, my parents or her parents about what a checkride is.

And I always compare it to like nursing boards, like the boards exams.

And it's like, it's like this ramp up and then you have this day that's just chaos.

And I don't know, it's.

It's a.

It's a wild ride.

I'm glad I don't have any others for a while as well.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Same.

I have recurrent every like nine months or every year.

And then I start getting worried.

My wife can relate to the boards and the step exams and all that kind of stuff.

Whenever she's studying for those, I'm like, oh my gosh, no, thank you.

Hard pass.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's probably similar to like a photo shoot though too.

You know, you put all this pressure into this one day, this one event.

It's like we need to make sure the cameras are working, the batteries are working, you gotta backups for everything.

And I need all the cameras all that kind of stuff.

I'm like, not.

I'm watching the, like, boards, exams for them, and even checkride experience.

I'm like, ah, photo shoot.

We got it down, we're good.

Remember the batteries and SD cards?

Yeah.

That's all you need, right?

You can figure it out.

You have Photoshop now and AI, you know.

Aaron, what was your first checkride like?

Was it as stressful as you thought it was gonna be or was it not too bad?

Yeah, it was pretty stressful.

Yeah.

I had put a lot of stress on myself.

And actually it's kind of funny you brought that up because I was scrolling through some things yesterday through our camera roll and I had recorded a video of myself like crying two days before my check ride.

And I am like talking to the camera.

And we had done all our training in Arizona, but then we were taking our checkride up in North Dakota or South Dakota.

Yeah, South Dakota.

And how did you end up there?

So the school, they have like a program up in South Dakota and in Arizona.

In Arizona it was like to get a dpe.

It was like a couple months wait.

And also it was in the dead of summer and I was like, that sounds terrible.

And I'm also not going to spend like a couple weeks of months just like staying proficient, flying just to like take this checkride.

So we flew up there and so it was like learning the area.

Learning like we had been flying out of an uncontrolled airspace in Arizona, then learning to fly out of like the controlled more, which, like you learn in private, but like, you're still such a baby and stuff.

So like, it felt like a whole new thing for me, feeling like I was so good at my, like, uncontrolled comms and stuff like that and going in uncontrolled airports.

And then all of a sudden I'm like, I have to talk to someone.

And so, yeah, it was that.

And then I was also like learning the planes and then getting like a whole new instructor to fly with me.

It just felt like a ton of different things.

And I just like, I remember having this like, pressure of the checkride that everyone feels, but also like, kind of felt like a whole new learning environment, like just a week before everything.

And so, yeah, it was that.

And it was also the pressure too, of like we had started documenting everything through social media and.

And we had like everyone like, oh my gosh, good luck.

Your tech ride.

Let us know how it goes.

And I'm like, oh my gosh, there is this like sort of external pressure when you start documenting everything.

And I think, like, we have always prided ourselves on showing, like, the ups and downs of things.

And, like, if I was going to fail, like, I was going to put it out there, but it was going to be one of those.

That it would feel like super, super vulnerable, like putting something out there instead of, like, a proud moment of passing a checkride.

So I was internalizing all these things when I was recording this video.

And, yeah, anyway, I was stressed.

To answer your question, I can't imagine going to a new area, learning new landmarks, you know, ground reference maneuvers, learning how to talk.

When I did at Ohio State, they had, like, very specific, like, places, like, all right, over the water Towers, over I270, over this road.

It's like, all right, I know where those roads are.

Where I've trained for the last 40, 50 hours.

Now you're going to a new place.

You got to learn new landmarks.

You got to learn how to talk to the atc.

A different atc.

Everything's just so much different.

And like you said, you're a baby pilot.

Like, you can barely do two things at once.

You're lucky that you can just fly straight and level at this point and talk to someone.

So throwing in all that has to be pretty difficult.

But it sounds like everything went well.

And I don't remember there being a failing, failing video.

So it sounds like it was a success.

Not yet.

Not yet.

That's awesome.

What was it like going for instrument?

Did you count on Paul a lot to help you out?

Sorry, say it again.

When you did your.

When you started doing all your instrument training in the checkride, did you count on Paul a lot for that to help you out?

Yeah, that helped a ton.

Honestly, having Paul throughout all my training has been super helpful because I've been able to ask him questions that I need clarification on.

And from the beginning of my private training, he's been sitting backseat.

And so a lot of the things he's been able to observe watch me, how I handle certain maneuvers or how I'm absorbing things, and we're able to debrief about it later.

So obviously, we're still talking it through with my instructor, but him and I have been able to go into more depth later or we're able to revisit topics more because he's seen the whole entire lesson and stuff.

So, yeah, that was that way.

For Instrument 2, I was able to kind of grill him a little bit on things or ask his advice in certain ways or shapes or forms from.

The beginning Aaron always asked that I sit backseat on all of her lessons.

And so I just sit back.

I wouldn't talk at all or anything.

But the good side to that is Erin and I can communicate on a level and like I can, I can see her mannerisms.

I can see when she actually gets something or doesn't.

And so afterwards when we go home, I can be like, hey, I noticed.

Like let's talk, let's dive into this one thing a little more.

Like I noticed maybe it didn't fully click and she's like, oh yeah, it didn't.

But she said it, you know, like it was just, it's this depth that we could go into because of it.

Yeah.

So that was fun.

Yeah.

I was just about to ask, do you guys feel like you have would there since you are now a cfi, do you think you would be able to be her CFI for commercial or anything else?

Do you guys have that kind of dynamic?

I mean personally, me and my wife, there's no way I could teach her because one, she'd be smarter than me within like two flights and I'd be like, I don't know the answer to that question.

She'd be like what?

I think it was like the right marriage therapist to be kidding.

But yeah, right.

We're playing around with the idea.

I think he may try to help me with my question commercial and stuff later this year.

So we're playing around with the idea of it cuz he's honestly like even though he's not been my CFI technically, like he's really taught me a lot like throughout like the entire aviation journey that I've had.

So yeah, I think it be fun.

I think it'd be a, a good time.

Yeah.

Good content.

You either kill each other or because there's an argument not in the airplane but afterwards.

Yeah, exactly.

Or you have a successful marriage and leading maybe your therapist influences now.

I don't know.

There's a, there's a lot of content directions that this can go down.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Do it for the people.

When you guys started this account, did you think like, I mean everyone looks.

I mean I, I truly believe that everyone, maybe not everyone, but most people want to be influencers if they can.

Like I think that people watch, you know, you doom scroll and you're like, oh, it's kind of like you, you just get addicted to it.

You're like, I could probably do that at some point in their life.

When you guys first started, was there any kind of hesitation to it Was there any kind of, like, why are people watching us?

Or, like, I don't want my friends from high school to watch us, like, that kind of thing starting out.

Yeah, 100%.

I felt like I had a lot of, like, fear regarding what people.

Exactly what you said from high school would think.

And I actually had started my first, like, reel I ever created.

I created on my personal account, and I was trying to, like, make that our social media platform on my personal.

Because I already had, like, followers, but I was watching, like, every person I know from high school watch it, and it was so scary and intimidating.

I was like, forget it.

Absolutely not.

We're making that a private account.

We're starting from scratch.

And that helped a lot because it made me realize every person that was following, I knew they were following because they intentionally wanted to follow.

And it wasn't because they were already a part of, like, just a personal account prior.

So that was really.

That was really key for our headspace at the beginning.

Yeah.

Because you're right.

Like, you.

You look at everyone else and you have those exterior pressures.

Yeah.

So it wasn't until I think 10,000 followers that we even told our personal followings like, that we even.

This is what we're doing.

Put a story on my personal account or anything like that.

Like, yeah, we really wanted to know that people were following us for us, for the right.

For the right reason.

I get that.

Yeah.

I was terrified of.

I don't know why, of people in high school.

What?

Like, I don't even talk to them anymore.

It's just like, they're like, why does Justin think he should have a podcast?

Like, what a loser.

You know, like, that kind of thing.

So, yeah, I mean, luckily I stepped with it and it's still going well, but, like, just like the first probably six months of it, just doing it, getting over that fear.

Same thing.

I never posted anything to my personal, probably until like a year or two.

And it was just like, I still.

Now I don't.

I think somehow Facebook linked my pilot.

The pilot account with my personal profile on Facebook.

And it just started, like, sharing everything I was posting.

And I started getting, like, likes.

I was like, wait, how do you know?

Don't do that.

And I think I still even do this moment.

I unlinked it.

So, like, there's still a separation of everything where I don't really want anyone from, like, high school or, I mean, college.

I don't care about high school.

Just, like, thinking that I'm weird for trying this or doing it even Though I like successfully done it for a little bit, it's just like, still like a mental block that I have in my head that I can't get past, which is funny.

100, 100.

Did you have people that you were like, watching as your example or how did you press through that?

Like, what was your way to get through that first six months or a year?

It just kind of just kept building, I'd say, like, kind of like you guys said, like, people are following you for you.

I just kept posting and everyone.

I just get more DMs, like, hey, like, I actually like your podcast.

I like this.

Or you should interview them.

And I just kept interviewing the next person they recommended and just kept building, building, building and building.

And then pilot Maria, who was like an OG influencer back in the day.

She flies for Ryanair.

She gave me a shout out and then I got a bunch of followers in that.

Then I interviewed her and it kind of just from there just got more.

More interviews as it went and just kept going.

Well and just kind of put my head down and just went all in, essentially.

I always tell people when they're.

When they're getting into content creation or they want to do something, a lot of times, like the people that make it to where you are, to where I am or whoever you look up to, it's because they never stopped.

Like, people stop and you never know.

It's kind of like that meme where it's like, you know, the guy in the minefield that's like hammering away and the money's like one inch away and he starts walking away.

It's like you don't know how close you are until you become more comfortable under the camera before you are actually the one that people want to follow.

And.

Well, finally watch your stuff.

It takes a while to do it.

Especially now.

I feel like it's so saturated with people trying to do it.

But you, I think you just have to be consistent, have to keep going.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I'm.

I'm guessing you guys would agree as well.

But yeah, we talked off before.

The first time we ever met was there is this tree that Chris from Angle of Attack claims is his tree at eaa.

Like, I think he's probably carved his name in it by now, but it's.

It's near the Chick Fil A and he.

I think you guys already sitting there.

And I walked up where to meet Chris.

Longtime friends haven't talked to him in a while.

Chris, you need to make that Happen.

But he was like, hey, this is Aaron Nepal.

And I was like, I have seen you guys because, like, you posted this video.

I don't.

One of your friends was running after an airplane.

I can't remember what the caption was, but it was something along the lines of, like, a guy starting up an airplane that she was just, like, sprinting after.

And I remember watching a couple of times, like, actually, like, laughing out loud.

I was like, oh, my gosh.

These are you guys.

That's cool.

But I think it was, like, right around when you guys were starting out, right?

Yeah.

That's why it's funny you bring it up because I'm like, gosh, our content's so different.

Yeah, but that's the evolution of making content.

Right?

Like, you.

You eventually kind of hone into the brand that you want.

At first, you're kind of just, like, posting stuff for fun.

You're posting stuff that you think is interesting, and then when people follow you and comment, and then now you're building a bear hawk, and now you kind of, like, are honing into what you want your brand to be.

So it's kind of fun to see the evolution of everything.

Yeah.

100%.

100%.

That piece of content, it.

It did hit right before oshkosh.

So we got so many people were like, oh, you had the girl running after the plane.

Like, that was.

Yeah.

Was that year one for us at osh, too?

Yeah, that was our first year at osh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Was that like, three years ago?

Yeah, three years ago.

Three years.

Yeah.

Dang.

Long time.

Speaking of that tree, though, we got to get a plaque on there or something, right?

I think Chris has bought.

Bought space in that tree.

I guarantee it.

If he hasn't, he should.

He's got to have his own real.

Estate over Chris's tree.

Ye.

And his budd, his buddy Cam Cameron.

Cam.

I can't remember his name.

Cameron's over there, too.

Yeah.

That.

They own that tree.

There's nothing you can do about it now.

It's too late.

Chris is going to charge you 1,200 bucks to put a plaque on that tree.

Exactly.

There's a side income.

There we go.

Yeah, Right?

I know.

Yeah.

You got to find a piece of land on EAA and start charging money till they kick you out.

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But yeah.

So let's kind of talk into what a lot of people kind of love about what you guys are doing right now.

And that is the plane you're building.

So why don't you kind of share why what you chose, like the process of why not just buy a 180, 182, kind of share your whole thoughts and why you went down this route.

Yeah.

Back when Aaron started training or we both were kind of training together, we started looking at planes like we knew we wanted a plane to take us places to do, to open the door to more memories, to more experiences across the country.

And like our cli.

Our, our mission for our plane was we wanted to go fast, but we wanted it to be able to go slow and land anywhere.

And we didn't want a plane to like limit us to where we could go.

We wanted just a plane that could do everything.

And that miracle plane seemed to not be out there.

And we looked for like two years.

Yeah, we got our tailwheel endorsements what a year and a half ago.

So something like that.

And that ruined us.

Like we knew we wanted a tail wheel after that.

So then we started looking.

Initially we were looking at Moonies because they could go fast and they were super fuel efficient.

And then we started looking at 180s Cessna 180s Cessna 185s as we got our tail wheel.

And we actually offered on several of those.

Yeah.

But, but the thing that like kept happening when we would offer, we'd start finding damage history or like a gray area in the 60 year.

The 60 year past of that plane, and I don't know, nothing ever ended up coming to fruition with, with, with our offers.

And it was last year, this time last year, it was Oshkosh, last year that we were walking across Bearhawk's tent and we saw this plaque for a plane, the Bearhawk 5, that said it can.

It, like, cruises at 160 miles an hour.

It stalls at 42 miles an hour.

It can carry things.

£3,000 takes off and lands in 200ft.

Aaron and I are just like, scratching our heads.

We're like, what is this?

There's no way this is a real plane.

I had never heard of it before at the time.

Yeah.

And at that point, we had started being introduced into the experimental world of being able to build your own plane.

But it was really only from Carson.

Where were they who had become a friend of ours.

And he was really trying to sprinkled into us like, guys, you should build.

And we were like, carson, love you dearly.

But I don't want to dedicate like half my life to building a plane because it's not going to take me three years.

It's going to take me like 30.

So I also don't trust myself to build an airplane.

Yeah, I agree.

Exactly.

I was like, we're not riveting out here.

Yeah.

I was like, we're not going to be flying straight or level ever if Erin, like, builds it herself.

So it's going to fall apart on the first flight.

Take off.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

So we found bear hawk and we, like, we're hearing all these things, specs.

And we're like, this is insane.

And I was like, but Paul, like, low key.

Let's be real.

We're not going to be able to build a plane.

And they had just implemented this past year a build assist program.

And like, you only needed for technically the build assist two weeks to come for the build.

So they were.

They usually have people come for a week at the beginning and a weekend at the end.

And it gives you an opportunity to get your hands involved in a little bit of everything, whether it being like fabric, whether it being like wiring and just all that jazz.

But we talked to the owners and we were like, well, we'd kind of love to be a part of the whole process as long as we still have a professional guiding us along the way.

So the past five months, we've been out in Oklahoma building our Bearhawk 5, and it's been kind of like, you know, when you go to a gym and you have A personal trainer.

And they're like, this is what you're doing for today.

This is how you do it.

Now go replicate it.

That's what our time out here has been.

It's like, we'll show up to the shop at 8am they'll be like, this is what you're doing today.

This is how you do it.

Now go do it.

And of course, Aaron screws up and they have to fix it, but, like, we go do it.

Yeah, you mess it up.

They're like, no, no.

Yeah.

Exactly the number of times we hear in the shop like, no, no, no, no.

Crap.

What are we doing?

Sorry, sorry.

Job.

Everything.

Yeah.

So now that you're done with this build, do you feel confident enough that you could build your own airplane, or would you still go with a builder assist program?

Oh, yeah, I'd still go with the builder assist.

I think Paul mentioned the other day that he thinks he could.

It would take a lot longer and you'd have to have a lot more patience and stuff.

And you have to be willing to research a lot more because it's so easy.

It's so nice to have someone to be like, this is exactly how you do it.

Right then.

And case in point.

So when you put on your prop hub, like the backing plate to your propeller, there's spacers that go on there.

And there is one night, like 1am like two weeks before Oshkosh that we were tossing on our propeller.

And Virgil's like, okay, we need three of these spacers.

Bam, bam, bam.

And I was like, how do you know that?

Like, exactly how many spacers?

And like, well, it actually took me like two weeks of research to figure this out and to get the spacing just right.

And there's little things like that all throughout the build that could you do it 100%.

It would just take you a lot more time.

And so, like, something so simple as him knowing three washers saves the US two weeks, you know?

So can you imagine researching something for two weeks for three spacers?

I know.

You're just like.

And before.

Yeah, Right?

Yeah.

Hey, hey.

Chat GBT how do I build five?

I need step by step instructions, please.

The future's here.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

That's.

Yeah.

I mean, kudos to you guys for doing that because, I mean, everyone wants a plane that can fly fast, a plane that can land slow, and a plane that can do everything you want.

And it sounds like you usually have to make sacrifices when you're buying airplanes.

And like you said, you go Back and you look at planes and it's like, well, the logbook was lost for five years.

Like, what do you mean the logbook was lost for five years?

Like, what did you do?

Yeah, where did this fuel tank come from?

I don't know exactly.

But yeah.

And not, not.

I mean, in the market is crazy.

Like a 182 is too.

It's like, what am I doing with my life right now?

So building sounds like a fantastic idea.

And your Bearhawk 6, a shout out to Bear Hawk.

If you guys listening to this, the Bearhawk 5, I should say, I didn't realize there was a 1, 2, 3 and 4 before this.

Or did they just start off coming out the line like we're doing the Bearhawk 5.

I know, right?

Yeah.

And it's a six seater, so it's, you know, kind of.

Wait, it's a six seater?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Really?

We don't have the six seats and.

Just like, I don't remember seeing six seats.

Yeah, yeah.

That's cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like, maybe I should buy a Bear Hawk.

I don't know.

I think.

I'm just kidding.

Is that what you guys call yourselves?

The Flock of Hawks is what it is.

Oh, my God.

We're bringing that name onto it, I guess.

Yeah.

I love it.

I don't know if we can trust you guys with naming.

We'll let it slide.

No, I'm just kidding.

But no, it's.

It's really cool.

Especially being able to build your own airplane.

It seems like kind of what a lot of people are getting into.

You know, you got Josh and Chelsea from Aviation 101.

They're building their own sling TSI.

JP built a sling out.

Carson did his Sling Flight shops, did his RV.

I don't know, camera with RV8, maybe a camera it is, but it seems to be kind of coming forward and you're in.

More people are okay with building it and it probably has to do with what influencers are doing, what content creators are doing, and also just what the market's doing with the prices and what you can get with your money.

You can probably get a lot more of an airplane for your money if you are willing to put the time in to build it.

And build us as programs are amazing because like we said, no one's going to trust me.

I think you'd agree that no one would trust you guys to build a plane from zero to a plane all by yourselves.

I feel like I still can't.

Shouldn't be able to drive a car by myself.

That was a joke.

Um, but it's, it's, it's great to have those, those programs, um, and experimental also.

You can do so much more with the airplane without having to fully worry about the FAA and what they want to say.

Um, so that's really cool.

I mean your avionics looked amazing.

I remember I went to the bear hawk tent and I was looking in.

I, I just expected to be kind of like full glass Garmin.

So when you went with your avionics, was this more of a tailored to what you wanted?

Because they were different than what they had kind of shown.

At least the one plane that I saw.

Yeah, we definitely like, I had, I had certain things I, I really wanted like hard ifr.

Both Aaron and I instrument rated pilots.

Like we wanted to fly hard IFR and have the ability in the plane and then we wanted it to be like symmetrical so you know, look nice.

Which.

That, that was amazing.

And then there were certain, there were certain pieces of equipment in there like the height advisor and the angle of attack that I really wanted.

As we go backcountry, as we start to explore a bit more, those are just safety pieces that to me are amazing.

And they're totally cheating.

Like it makes it so easy to understand like how far you are from the ground and where you are on your angle of attack and stuff.

So.

Yeah.

And do you have kind of like the list of what Garmin you actually went with?

Like do you.

Can you name off all the.

The TSI, like the six letter number?

Oh yeah, yeah.

We have dual G3X's we have the GTN 750XI.

We have the GFC 500 autopilot dual G5s.

And then the GHA 15 is the height advisor, the angle attack.

That's a lot of the bulk of it right there.

Yeah.

And what was the wiring like for all that?

Do you posted?

I can't remember.

I don't think.

I don't remember the video because I just remember you posting about wiring your avionics together and I can't remember.

It was really easy or if it was really hard.

I imagine it was really hard.

But you probably get a few different answers to all the ones.

Yeah.

Let's hear it.

I want to hear it.

Well, I got released from wiring like two days in, so.

All right.

So Aaron is not wiring the next airplane.

Got it.

I wired something wrong.

I don't even know terminology for what I Wired it to probably.

Paul could probably tell you.

But I ended up putting on one of the adapter things backward.

And yeah, if Bearhawk didn't have a spare here in the shop, I don't know if we would have made a.

That's amazing.

We like, walk over.

Oh, this is.

And I thought I was doing so good too.

They left me alone for like an hour and I was going to town.

Well, no, I went to town the wrong way.

Apparently she recorded all of this too.

So you see the flip, like at the beginning, she's like, oh, my gosh, we just crashed.

We just crashed this.

I'm getting the hang of it.

And then at the end, I'm going to do more.

What else can I wire?

I'm like, hire me on Garmin.

Yeah, yeah, you're thinking of like your next account, Aaron Wires.

Or you just wire airplanes together and it's like, here we go, that's cool.

But Paul, like, honestly, he got a hang of it so quick.

Like, that's good.

Yeah, it just came so naturally to you.

I don't know, like, how you caught onto it so quick, but you really did.

Yeah, I mean, it's just like fabric.

It's just like anything else in the plane build.

I feel it's.

It's a skill that you, you learn and as after a day or two of doing it, you like.

Like it all just clicks and makes sense.

Yeah.

At least that's my experience.

Like, the wiring diagrams initially looked like a different language, but then.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And as you started to walk through just one diagram, like a simple diagram, you figure out like, oh, this just goes to this, and you start to translate it into real world application and then it just all starts working.

And that was actually really fun.

Like, to me, after we installed everything, there were a couple changes I wanted to make and I knew the wiring diagram, so I could actually just go and, okay, I'm just gonna tie into this to make this run work for whatever.

And I was able to start modifying things and.

Yeah, look at you now.

You're a pro.

I know.

It was really fun though.

I. I thoroughly enjoyed wiring.

It was.

It was easier than I thought it was going to be.

There's.

They're fairly simple, simple skills.

I think the hardest part is understanding the wired wiring diagram and like starting to learn that language.

But once that's done, I mean, actually terminating wires and connectors, that's pretty simple stuff.

Yeah, yeah, of course.

Yeah.

Totally agree.

I say that now, but, like, there's tons of videos online.

Like, Even.

Yeah, yeah, Tons of people.

Several people have made a lot of videos about that stuff.

So what was the stress, like, of the timeline of Oshkosh?

What was the kind of like, I'm sure as you started, you know, you're like, oh, we got plenty of time.

We got plenty of time.

But then now you're like, holy smokes, like, this is happening soon.

Because it was, I mean, you got like certified to fly like a week before, right?

Like, not even was it.

Yeah, it was like a week before.

Yeah, we got our airworthiness certificate.

Airworthiness was Monday.

First flight was Tuesday.

And then we finished phase one flight testing at 8:30pm Friday.

And then we left for OSH, 8am Saturday morning.

Was there any kind of like nerves going on, like in the first flight or even like your first flight going to Oshkosh?

Like, did it remind yourself, like, hey, this plane has like 7 hours on it, 10 hours on it?

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

When I lined up on the Runway to take off for the first time, the thoughts going through my head of like, man, I really hope the ailerons are connected.

Right.

Or like, I don't know anyone else.

Want to fly this for the first time.

Like, I mean, I can take the.

I'm really good at taking videos of stuff.

Come on, just let me know.

It was nice though, because Virgil, the owner of Bear Hawk, like, he's obviously flown Bear Hawks for years and so him and Paul were able to do the first flight together.

So even though Paul did the takeoff and landing, having someone who was able to sit like, right seat, who knows the plane so well, I think provided some sort of like, reassurance and like, okay, we'll be okay if something happens.

Like, when in doubt, your controls, you can take over.

Yeah.

And so I really focused in on the flying.

And then he was watching all the engine instruments and trying to understand how everything's working well.

And it was.

I was so glad he was there.

Our oil temperature actually started spiking pretty bad on the first flight.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

And so we came into land after like 10 minutes.

Like, it was a fairly short first flight.

And.

And then we landed.

We had to add a second oil cooler and rearrange some stuff.

But.

But yeah, I was glad he was there because he was able to help monitor this massive engine right in front of us.

Well.

So, yeah.

All right, so now that you're done with the build, what are some, like, do's that you would do again?

And what are some don'ts that you would not do again or, like, what would you change?

And what were you.

What did you think was successful?

Oh, that's a good question.

That is.

Boom.

Dues.

I don't know.

I would, like, do the.

I'm biased, but do the build assist program.

Yeah, I think.

And also not only to have, like, an expert helping you along the way, but being able to be in a shop that they are, like, producing bearhawks constantly.

We were able to, as we planned out our bear hawk, as we went with the build, able to look at other bear hawks to see visually, like, how things were supposed to look.

So even as we were doing fabric or learning how to, like, fabric.

I don't know, certain tail feathers, we were able to look at another guy's plane that it had just been done and see how it was being cut or how it was being folded.

And so it was even nice in that way to be able to have another visual reference or another reference for what it's supposed to look like down the road.

Because sometimes it's so hard to visualize you're making all these decisions, like.

Of, like, not just, like, when we first got into it, I thought it was just, like, paint scheme, and then you pick the interior colors and you're good.

It's like, no, there's so much design element that goes into this.

And then on top of that, it's.

Yeah, you're fabricing the airplane, which affects paint and stuff and how it looks on your plane.

So being able to have other people planes for reference at the shop that you're working at has been a world of a difference.

And I was super overwhelmed when we.

When we, like, signed on the dotted line.

It was happening.

I was so overwhelmed by the amount of decisions that were coming our way.

Like, in my head, I'm like, what brakes do we have?

What wheels do we have?

Like, all of these things.

And so I think if I could talk to Paul back then, I'd be like, hey, take it a day at a time.

Because these.

These decisions don't have to be made all at the beginning.

Like, there's some big decisions you have to make at the beginning.

But, like, the paint colors, we waited a while for that.

You know, like, there's a lot of little things that can come in time.

And so that was.

Yeah, that was a lot of over.

Overwhelm.

Right.

Right at the beginning.

That didn't need to be there.

Yeah.

And also, I think, like, talking to the experts a little bit more.

Like, I mean, we do that throughout the entirety but that helps a ton.

Like, everyone is like, such an expert in their niche.

So you have, like, guys that just know breaks and like, no, like wheels really well.

And you have guys that, like, are experts in designing paint schemes.

And so finding experts that can help, like, support you in bringing your vision to life has just been a world of a difference.

So it's not just all on your shoulders of having to learn things or design things yourself.

And I think to that point you mentioned that there's almost, almost a pull towards experimental aviation now.

And we see this trend, or I've kind of watched this trend and experienced this over the build is you.

A while back, experimental was scratch builders, and then it went to kit builders.

And now it's trending towards builder assists.

And so now there's so many more resources out there for all of us to do this well and write and to have somebody guiding us along the process that it does make it way more accessible now.

Yeah, I met a couple of scratch builders at Oshkosh and I'm like, you are a real builder.

That is so cool that you're doing that.

I could, I couldn't, like, yeah, hard pass.

Like I said I would be.

So, like, putting my family in the plane, be like, I think I messed up the third rivet.

Like, I don't feel comfortable.

Someone else please do this.

Yeah.

Say a builder assist is huge.

And I'm sure the companies like it too, because that way they can kind of have some better quality control of how things are going.

And, you know, they want their planes to fly well.

They don't want their airplanes being in the news.

So, I mean, it's a, it's a great thing, I think, for everyone to have this and have this opportunity.

What was kind of the, the best moment, like, was it when you flipped on your avionics for the first time to make sure, like, you saw the Garmin background to make sure everything works.

Was it the first flight?

Was it actually landing in Oshkosh?

Kind of like talk about the.

When you feel like you were done or feel like this is actually working.

Yeah, I think it's definitely landing at Oshkosh.

We have never even flown into Oshkosh before.

And honestly, I think what a lot of people don't see because they see fast forward things through social media because sometimes we weren't Sharing all the offers we were doing because we didn't want to just drag people along in it.

But we were starting to, at that point prior to OSH24, feel a little defeated of like, I don't know if we're ever going to find the perfect plane for us.

And we had started hearing from people like, yeah, just like, get one.

You'll probably have to settle on something.

It's not going to be your dream or anything.

And flying into OSH this year I think was such a surreal moment because not only was it like full circle of like, this is where everything began for the process of building our own plane, but it was also like we met some of the people who've inspired us in aviation and have become good friends throughout the entirety of this process, like JP and Carson and have just been such leaders and guiders in the aviation industry, but has also become such good mentors and friends of ours.

We were there upon our arrival and we didn't even tell them when we were arriving in because we had just finished like flight testing the day before.

And so we were like, I don't know, this may not, we may not make it to osha.

Can you actually come pick us up, please?

And like, we didn't, we just didn't say anything to anyone.

We just started flying in and they were there like, not only like recording us coming in, but like there to celebrate with us.

And it was just like such an emotional, like surreal thing of getting to be with our people that also have been so encouraging and so inspirational.

Inspiring throughout like this entire process.

Yeah.

So what's next?

What's next for the Bearhawk?

What's next for Tina?

What's next for kind of you guys?

Dude, yeah, go ahead.

Well, we're gonna be building out the back of Tina.

So she is a six seat aircraft.

We're gonna be taking out our back two seats.

So it's just the two pilot seats.

And we're gonna be building her into a lightweight modular camper plane.

Oh, sick.

Yes.

So we're super, super excited about that.

That's also when we were looking for planes.

Our whole dream has been to live a nomadic lifestyle on the road because travel has been something that's inspired us in everything we do.

Travel nurse.

Man.

Back when Aaron and I were dating, we, I like, was visiting her house in Pennsylvania and I was talking to her mom in the backyard and I was like, man, I think I want to buy a camper van and travel around.

And she was like, you're not buying a Camper van.

Like, you will not make my daughter live out of a van.

I will not do that.

So we're settling for a camper plane.

I'll say you're right.

I will not do that, but I will get an airplane.

Exactly.

It's like, wait, wait, I'll do the van now.

Please let her do the van.

Yeah, yeah.

Aaron, what does your family think about this now?

Like, what do they think about aviation?

Have they kind of fully kind of accepted that this is kind of like what you're gonna do, or they still kind of like, are you sure about the airplanes?

Yeah, no, they're still so excited.

It's so funny because they get, like, hesitant about flying themselves, but, like, they're so supportive and, like, excited for us in, like, this journey and chapter and.

Yeah, yeah, we really, we.

We honestly have, like, really good support in everything we do, so.

Yeah.

Yeah, Sweet.

We'll talk a little.

Like, what's the.

What is a modular camping kind of setup look like in a Bear Hawk?

Are you allowed to say?

Or is it still like.

We don't know yet.

We're trying to figure it out.

We're, we're super excited for it.

So we've kind of planned out a way to make.

The back is going to have L track in it.

If you're, if you've ever, like, sat on a, an airliner and you look at the seat.

Excuse me, you look at the floors, all the seats are like, locked into track.

It's kind of like L track.

And we're gonna put that in the back.

So we're, we're putting three strips of it in the back.

And then everything we're linking into the back is modular so we can, like, take it in and out.

So we're gonna have a small kitchen at the far aft of our.

The compartment.

We're gonna have a fridge in there.

We have Starlink.

We have a battery pack storage for our belongings.

And then we're actually, we're putting a shower in our left wing, which.

Yeah, that'll be fun.

And then we're adding a belly pot as well to add water and, and, and extra fuel as well.

So what, what does it look like for, like, useful load.

Like, what is the useful load of a Bearhawk in general?

And is this kind of in.

Is this something that's been done before?

Are you going to be the first ones to do it too?

Yeah, when we, when we started this, we hadn't found anyone that had done before, but a couple were done back in the 70s.

That we've found over the course of this build.

And they were in large like twin engine planes.

So in a single engine plane.

We haven't necessarily seen this before.

Our useful load.

So Tina is a big girl.

She is.

Let's see.

She's a fat lard.

She's a foul art.

Oh, sick.

Yeah.

We're expecting the build out.

It's going to take about 100, 150 pounds total.

Including everything.

The fridge, the battery, everything.

Is that with like full tank of water and everything too?

Yeah.

With the.

If we do a 30 gallon full tank that's almost 300 pounds on there.

Yeah.

But the great thing is if.

If we ever need to get out of somewhere and we can't have the weight, we can just chop it, you know, we can smash it somewhere and then we can still use the plane.

Nothing is permanently fixed in the plane.

Just don't shower for a week.

You'll be fine.

Exactly.

Aaron's like, no.

Like I need my showers.

Yeah, yeah.

With, with the build out is this like opportunity?

Do you see yourself like doing a series like flying across the country, flying across North America like visiting different countries or do you think this is going to be like a nomadic USA airplane Or like what's kind of the plan for the flying?

Yeah, I think we're starting in the US for sure to.

To.

To travel around a bit.

We're really motivated both Aaron and I by new experiences and exploring new things like seeking new adventures for ourselves.

And I think that first and foremost that's where we're going to be taking this.

So exploring, finding the coolest things to do in different states around the U.S. maybe things that haven't been explored much.

That's really what drives us.

So that'll be the first while in Tina for sure.

Yeah.

In Paddington.

That's awesome.

I mean it just sounds fun.

Sounds like it fits you guys personalities extremely well.

And like we talked about how it's really hard to find an airplane that can do everything you want.

It sounds like you have gotten as close as you possibly can for something like that.

So it's really great that you guys are able to find a team and builder assist and an airplane that can do that.

And it's kind of a support system that.

That helps you out with that as well.

Kind of sticking to the avionics part just because I love avionics.

Is there one piece you mentioned kind of the radio altimeter that they have the ability For Ga. What is kind of the most exciting Garmin product that you have that you're just super excited about and just like being able to use for your mission and what you specifically want to do when you're flying?

Yeah, I think it's a combo of a few pieces that all work together really well.

So we have the Sirius XM weather.

We already were using that a ton on our way up to Oshkosh and to be able to have that on the interface, we have it on our 750XI.

To have that live, I think it was a two minute delay like that is so valuable as we're flying wherever we will be.

I think that in conjunction with the height advisor with the angle of attack, it really does make our approaches, our landings, even our takeoffs a lot safer.

And we have a lot more information at our fingertips.

And yeah, I think that's.

Those are the things that I'm really, really excited for.

I mean, these avionics can do literally anything, right?

Like, there are so many features in these.

I feel like we could do a full podcast just on the avionics alone.

Like, there's so much to talk about.

Kyle's like, done do it.

No, I agree.

I mean it's pretty similar.

Like I felt very comfortable going from each.

Each one put you in a 430, a 530.

I used to fly with.

Like you can just tell where everything was built and they want everything to kind of like you want to be able to go from a 430 to 530 to whatever the next avionics is and feel very comfortable in what you're doing.

And that was definitely the case when I, when I kept upgrading and kept going to new equipment.

Now I fly 737 and there's no Garmin and everyone.

So I'm just like, oh man, it'd be really nice to have like that moving map that I had or like any kind of map.

That'd be great.

Yeah, especially SiriusXM too.

You're like pulling your iPad just to have the.

I know.

Yeah, it's like exactly.

Yeah, I know.

It's.

Yeah, it's definitely been.

Been wild not having all the Garmin that I'm used to, but it still flies.

It's amazing.

Who thought?

Yeah, truly.

Yep.

But that's cool.