Last Update: 5/17/97
Web Author: Juan Jiménez
Copyright © 1997 by Juan Jiménez - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Bede Aircraft Corporation will stop accepting introductory forms as of March 1, 1972. At this time we will be establishing dealers throughout the country who will handle sales and service of the BD-5 and BD-4 aircraft. Orders can then be placed through your local, authorized dealer.
Up until March 1 we will continue to accept BD-5 orders with a guaranteed price of $1,950 for the basic aircraft. All orders received before March 1 will be delivered in the sequence in which they were placed.
Some of our customers have requested delayed delivery of their BD-5. This is perfectly acceptable but requires at least thirty days notice of when delivery is desired. Those persons placing an order before March 1, and desiring a delayed delivery schedule, can do so by requesting it when sending in their order form. We would prefer not to have a delayed delivery schedule for much more than one year.
After March the suggested retail price of the BD-5 aircraft will be $2,100. We recommend that orders after this time be placed through your dealer. If a dealer has not been established in your area and you desire placing an order, you can do so by sending it directly to our main office in Cleveland, Ohio.
We hope that by establishing a very sound dealer network we will be able to serve our customers in the best possible way. Spare parts, optional equipment and technical guidance will be available from all our dealers.
Jim Bede will be holding a seminar on the BD-5 in Lansing, Illinois on Tuesday, February 8 at the Chicago Hammond Airport, Bunnham Ave., beginning at 7:30pm.
The BD-5 "Micro" will be on display, and the meeting will be held in the Cessna Dealership Hangar at Hammond Airport.
Jim Bede will be holding a seminar on the BD-5 in Miami on Sunday, January 23 at the Traveller's Motel, 4767 NW 36th St., Miami Springs.
Two separate meetings will be held. The times are 2pm and 7pm.
The Traveller's Motel is situated directly opposite the Eastern Airlines Buildings at the International Airport.
The BD-5 now has a new tail configuration. We are now flight testing the prototype BD-5 with the vertical fin and swept horizontal stabilizer, as can be seen in the accompanying photographs (to be scanned).
The new tail configuration was tried because we were not satisfied with the directional stability of the aircraft, particularly with the long wings. We found that directional control was generally good, but with the longer wing stability was not the best.
The results were very characteristic of the "Bonanza type" of fish-tailing. We did not believe the situation to be dangerous, but also not desired for normal or aerobatic flying.
The initial results received during flight tests with the new tail appear to have rectified the situation completely.
The new tail configuration affords the BD-5 a rather high degree of stability - both in pitch and yaw - making it versatile enough to accommodate both the relatively low-time pilot as well as the highly-skilled and/or aerobatic pilot.
The added surface area will reduce cruising speed by only about 6 MPH.
The prototype BD-5 is now being put through an intensive stability and control test program in view of the new tail configuration, and we will not continue with the test program as a whole until we have explored and established the best handling characteristics of the aircraft.
The BD-5 Information Memo will be published on the 15th of each month and mailed to all BD-5 owners only. This latter publication will be a special typed-only bulletin containing specific information of interest to those who have ordered a BD-5.
The BD-5 flight test program is at present involved in stability and control evaluation. We have found with the big wings only that we had relatively light directional stability. It is for this reason that we have installed the new tail configuration. This modification required about three weeks of time and prevented us from gaining any further information.
The modification is complete and the prototype BD-5 has been relicensed by the FAA and is back on the flight test program.
Before we made tail modifications we conducted a number of short flights, thoroughly evaluating the engine and cooling system. We are quite pleased with the results we have obtained and were surprised to notice how rapidly temperature variations could be recorded on the cylinders. For example, taxiing along at a certain power setting, going downwind, then doing a 180 facing into the wind at about the same power setting, it was possible to see, within a few seconds, a drop of 50 degrees of cylinder head temperature. We are pleased to have such quick and smooth response, and since the cylinder head temperature gauge is standard with every aircraft it will allow each pilot to accurately and efficiently monitor the engine operation.
We found starting the engine to be exceptionally easy and have returned to the use of a choke rather than a primer for cold starts. The primer did work allright, but it was also possible to flood the engine. With a cockpit-controlled choke it is very simple to control.
An interesting experience when you begin taxiing the aircraft. There is seemingly little response when you start to give it throttle. From an idling speed, or around 1,000 RPM to even 2,000 RPM, you find the propeller giving just enough thrust to start you moving. Advancing the throttle to 4,000 RPM gives somewhat more response, but still no great surge. But if you advance the throttle further to over 5,000 RPM, and then approaching 6,000 RPM, all heck seems to want to break loose. You soon find that not until the engine gets into its normal operating range of speed do you begin to feel the real power that this little powerplant can produce.
At these higher engine speeds the noise level turns into a very smooth hum, rather than the old familiar aircraft beat. The engine is equipped with a tuned muffler so the noise level is actually extremely low. Engine vibration is almost non-existent, and you almost get the feeling that you have a turbine engine mounted behind you.
The control stick mounted on the side is so natural that everyone who has sat in the aircraft so far has hardly been aware that it was a wrist action control stick that they were using.
The feel you get when you go down the runway and start to life is that you are practically wearing that aircraft with no thought as to where the propeller or anything else is, because the feeling and response is like any other aircraft. With the beautiful feeling and response you do feel that the aircraft is all behind you and that you are sitting out front ahead of an aerodynamically clean body. As you begin to take to the air you get the feeling that you are in a very solid and strong structural aircraft. It is a very solid-feeling plane. You get the very intent feeling that you are in total command of the aircraft and that it is made to fly with an abundance of performance.
The actual landing or touchdown is perfectly normal and relatively easy to do because there is little difficulty in estimating how high you are above the ground.
Price of the basic BD-5 is at present $1,950 ($50 additional for the long wing model). We have recently placed ads in national aviation publications where the price is show as $2,100. This is a suggested list price for the BD-5, and Bede Aircraft will still accept orders at the $1,950 price for the time being.
Both fresh air ventilation and a heater will be incorporated in the BD-5's design. Details will be provided so that the builder can if he so wishes, include a heater system in his aircraft during its construction. It will be a simple matter to duct warm air into the cockpit, and the system will work on the heat exchange principle. Arranging fresh air ventilation will also be very easy.
Despite all our efforts in trying to plan a well-organized delivery schedule on the BD-5, a delay in delivery of one major component for the aircraft will delay commencement of deliveries.
Availability of the new, twin-cylinder 70 HP engines from Kiekhaefer is the prime reason for this delay. Production of the new twin is taking longer than expected, but as these new engines will be really outstanding powerplants, both in quality of production and integrity of design, we think everybody will agree when they receive theirs, that they will have been worth waiting for.
As we still intend shipping of BD-5 materials exactly in the order of priority number, as promised, we will not begin deliveries until we have everything in stock and ready to go out to our customers in one complete package.
All our customers will be kept informed of the progress of the new engines, and further information will be published in future information memos.
We are just now receiving the BD-5 Information Kits.
Latest performance specifications, photographs and drawings will be included, as well as revised general information about the BD-5.
An interesting part in the Information Kit will be the "Provisional Bill of Materials," which will list all the parts that will be supplied in the complete aircraft materials package.
All BD-5 customers who have ordered the aircraft will automatically receive a free copy in the mail for their files.
The price of the new Information Kit will still be $5.
Last Update: 5/17/97
Web Author: Juan Jiménez
Copyright © 1997 by Juan Jiménez - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED