Couple Goals: How Erin and Paul Built Their Dream Plane

Pilot to Pilot - Aviation Podcast

Justin Siems

Leisure, Hobbies, Business, Aviation, Careers

4.9 • 938 Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Episode 336 of the Pilot the Pilot Podcast takes off now.
0:10.2	Fly with Garmin avionics, then grab your mobile device and make the Garmin Pilot app your cockpit companion.
0:16.5	Get advanced functions you'll use before, during, and after every flight, including updating your
0:21.9	aircraft's databases and logging engine data, plan, file, fly, log with Garmin Pilot.
0:28.6	The Pilot to pilot podcast is brought to you by Ground School from the FinerPoints, the
0:32.7	indispensable training app for new and experienced pilots.
0:36.1	Visit learn thefiner points.com backslash
0:38.4	Justin to save 10% off your first year. All pilots need the big weather picture and I use
0:43.9	SiriusXM aviation to check the fronts, airmets, segments, turbulence, pyreps and more. While I'm pre-flighting
0:50.4	and en 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 GDL-52 portable receiver to bring
1:02.0	SiriusXM and ADSB weather plus traffic into your cockpit.
1:06.0	We're Aaron and Paul and we're husband-wife, pilot duo, fly in ourhawk 5 that we just built over the past five months here in Oklahoma.
1:16.0	Aviation, what is going on and welcome back to the pilot to pilot podcast.
1:19.9	My name is Justin Seams and I am your host.
1:22.8	Today's episode is with Aaron and Paul.
1:25.2	You might know them from Aaron and Paul Flies.
1:28.5	They have just built probably one of the cool airplanes I've seen in a while. No offense anyone else that's currently building an airplane or has built an airplane. But this plane was sick. I saw it outside the Garminton at EAA Oshkosh, which we'll talk about this later. But if you weren't there, you need to go. it was amazing um but it was sweet it's a bear hawk five i thought it was just a bear hawk but they
1:28.1	told me it's a bear hawk five so there's four other airplanes they have, which is sick. Bear Hawk, congratulations. Your airplane's awesome. They're talking about how they were trying to find an airplane that was perfect for them. And they were not willing to kind of give into that. They wanted the best airplane they possibly could. They went down the route of possibly 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 build a build assist program and they documented the whole thing which was so cool to see do. Do I want a bearhawk? I don't know.
2:18.0	I mean, just talking to them was kind of cool. So podcasts and bearhawks, that sounds kind of cool. But I did joke with them a little bit about their name. I am actually on Aaron's 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.
2:14.2	This is what it is.
2:15.3	But Aviation, it was a lot of fun talking with them.
2:16.9	It was a lot of fun having them on.
	...

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