Bede Bd5

[poor southerner]

Can someone fill me in on the history of these. There is almost always one or more partially completed kits for sale on ebay USA, but never completed one.
Some with Honda engines and others with 'jet' ones.
Was there a story about very bigs plans for sales, deposits paid and something went wrong.
Were they ever allowed in the UK
and did any actually fly (if se were they any good)

[B2N2]

This is the website:
http://www.bd5.com/

A builders website:
http://home.regent.edu/ruthven/bd-5.html

Budweiser used to fly one at airshows;

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/bd5j/bd5j-1.jpg

[S205-18F]

Hi PS not good news the PFA and CAA wont allow them to fly in UK, a local chap has one and had to get it onto the S. Irish register! Took it over last weekend to test fly it. Not sure of the results, I maybe able to update you tomorrow (Sunday) as I havent spoken to Bob since the test! Sorry for the sketchy information.

[waldopepper42]

Report in the Telegraph this morning of an engine failure on take off leading to a crash and fire, in Australia.

Pilot survived with back injuries and burns.

There was an air test of the BD-5 by Bob Grimstead in this month's Pilot - looks like the same aircraft? (There were two photographed in the Pilot article. The crashed aircraft was definitely one of the two, not sure if it was the test aircraft).

[Genghis the Engineer]

I remember a conversation with the chap at CAA who was, I believe, responsible for formulating the decision not to allow the BD5 into the UK.

His argument seemed fairly straightforward - about 50% of all BD5s completed had suffered fatal accidents, and that wasn't something that CAA particularly wanted to buy into.

Whilst I'm not an over-fan of the nanny state, I have to say, he had a point.

G

[Newforest]

Sounds like the Flying Flea, part 2.:(

[Humaround]

Newforest wrote

"Sounds like the Flying Flea, part 2."

See the Ord-Hume article in Popular Flying, March I think.

Most of the FF accidents (and there were'nt actually very many in the UK) were down to pilot inexperience (in one case the pilot had no license!) or inadequate construction and power. The aircraft itself did have a fatal flaw which could be provoked, which was easily remedied but too late for the UK authorities.

Nothing to do with the BD5 of course.

[High Wing Drifter]

There was a new BD5 look-a-like news snippet in Loop this month. Forget the name, something like Eclipse, Excalibur or something...

[waldopepper42]

Poor southerner: to go back to your original question - you might find the wikipedia entry for Jim Bede interesting.

There's quite a comprehensive section on the BD-5 A, B and J variants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bede

Genghis - if you only consider the -5A (short wing) variant - ALL four completed airframes crashed on their maiden flights, 3 fatally :eek::eek:

On reflection, I think I'll stick to the Extra.......

[Genghis the Engineer]

Genghis - if you only consider the -5A (short wing) variant - ALL four completed airframes crashed on their maiden flights, 3 fatally

You know, I think that if I was being asked to do the first flight on the 3rd or 4th of those, I'd have looked at the history and declined politely. (If that didn't work, I'd decline impolitely!).

G

[Wessex Boy]

There is a BD5 hanging from the ceiling of the Aviation shop in Sacremento Old Town CA.
Firstly it was a surprise to find such a good shop in a cowboy tourist trap, secondly to find a BD5 hanging in there!
I remember reading an article in Airplane Monthly back in the early '70s on these, looked promising then....

[Pitts2112]

I remember as a kid going to Minuteman Airport in Stow, Massachusetts with my Dad on most Saturdays for breakfast, and following the progress of a BD-5 being built in one of the hangars. To a 10 year old (this was late 70s), it seemed like they were always going back and forth from week to week. One Saturday the wings would be on, the next they'd be off, that sort of thing.

I never knew if they ever finished it or not.

Pitts2112

[False Capture]

Another BD-5 was suspended from the ceilling of a night-club in Barrow-in-Furness:E. Did it survive?