Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: muckmaw on September 24, 2003, 01:27:22 PM
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We have a pusher prop varient of the BD5 at the museum I volunteer at. We have started cleaning it today, to get it flight ready again.
What a great little airplane!
I love this thing!
Has anyone flown one? I'd love to hear what this little guy handles like, and how much a new one (Prop driven) costs.
Pictures to follow.
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I believe LePaul used to own one.
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Yup...had it for 2 years, researched finishing it, insuring it, making a great cockpit and displays (since the company I work for has a division that does a lot with display panels)....but ultimately not convinced its the safest thing in the world
Sold it last summer to a 747 pilot who made a great offer...I'm still in touch with him and he's made great progress on it since he became his.
(http://www.checksix.net/my5-5.jpg)
Good reference sites...
http://www.bd5.com
http://www.bd-micro.com
They handle like a cross between a P-51D and F-16...real fast...take a good look at the nose and cockpit...that's the crumple zone. You auger, you squish, you die.
Don't get me wrong, I have oodles of videos and other data on them and I'm sure that if I had one built from BD-Micro from scratch, incorporating all the improvements over the years, I'd like one. But many of the examples out there are too heavy, built poorly and more. Pushers are a different creature. Further, a heavy BD-5 will have oil-canning of the wings.
Jim Bede envisions a re-done BD-5 sometime. But a lot of people got burnt went he went out of business and left hundreds with incomplete kits.
(http://www.bd-micro.com/bljet.jpg)
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It's flying backwards! Good thing the pilot is turned the wrong way. ;)
On my list of things to do before I die, build my own plane. May have to live to be a hundred to get that one done though.
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lol, aint thata what James Bond flew.
:D
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That plane has never seem safe just by looking at it.
And from what I have heard, my intuition seems to be right about it.
Its the perfect terrorist weapon.
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If I owned that thing, I would definatly fly it but I would be packing a parachute just in case.
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Type, if you could get a chute in there, it's be a freakin miracle.
You know what, you could put a chute around the whole plane and it would work.
I LITERALLY lifted it off it's main gear today and moved it, without breaking a sweat.
Lepaul would know the weights, but I would guess no more than 300 lbs.
What about that Lepaul...COuld you mount an emergencty chute on that thing? I can see it being pretty easy to lose your legs in that little sucker.
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Well perhaps with a small parachute I probably could squeeze in perhaps with a malcom hood. Definately no room for 20mm cannons. All kidding aside, it looks liek alot of fun. Guys like me without a chance of ever owning a non roof top launch aircraft could only dream about stuff like this.
:D
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Originally posted by Animal
That plane has never seem safe just by looking at it.
And from what I have heard, my intuition seems to be right about it.
Its the perfect terrorist weapon.
Animal,
You are so much the expert as always... you have made 4573 posts of nothing but BS, and yet you continue to astonish us with your assinine BS.
The "perfect terrorist weapon"??? How so, the payload it can carry is non existent.... oh, your counter whine is that they could put biological and "other" matter and spray it... That is pure BS. No terrorist is going to waste a dime on that when there are plenty of other aircraft much more capable of doing a better job with less hassles.
As for the safety issues you seem to see, name a few and astonish us with more of your BS gibberish...
:rolleyes:
So do us a favor and just fade away... like a bad fart...
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Any small plane is death if it hits the ground nose first-at least in this one it would be quick.
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Bodhi...It's time to take your meds again.
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Animal... nice lunker!
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How does that thing perform? Figures, anyone?
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I'd like to know more about cost and performance as well.
Think about it. You can pick one up on the cheap, take it out to an airstrip...hell, to a field, snap the wings on, and take off!
When your done, take the wings off again, toss it in your little trailer, and put it in your garage.
In reality, the thing is not much bigger than a jet ski. (Alright, maybe 50% longer but you see my point)
The only drawback is the fact that it's a single seater. No passengers for you!
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Here's a link for some rough stats on the various BD-5 variants..
The BD-5B is a reciprocating version.
The BD-5J is the jet version
The BD-5T is the turbo prop version. This is what I had wanted to modify my BD-5 into. The reliablity of the jet, the efficiencies of a prop.
http://www.bd-micro.com/FLS.HTM has detailed take off/landing/weight information.
muck, I never had an engine in mine. As it sat, it weighed 150 pounds or so..maybe less.
Parachutes...yes, if you can get out in time. If you've sat inside the -5 there, muck, you are pretty deep into the cockpit. It takes some ingenius wiggling to get out of the plane. Its not for the large or tall. So, add a chute and its a bit cramped in there (as I am told from others). In the event of an emergency, I'm sure my body can do amazing things...so bailing shouldn't be too bad. Some have done so and survived to fly again.
(Cockpit pic...its tight in there...side stick cool tho)
(http://www.checksix.net/my5-3.jpg)
Here's the catch tho...the airplane was designed around a powerplant that, to this day, really hasnt been invented. The magic 100 hp & weighs less than 100 pounds hasn't come around...at least not affordably. The turboprop is the closest thing to date, but is vastly more $$ than a recip. So, weight is one major enemy...folks are using heavy Honda engines and others to power theirs..some with varying degrees of success. But they aren't seeing the "blazing" speeds they ever envisioned.
The next problem is heat. With the larger recips, liquid cooling is required and air intakes, scoops, etc. Everyone seems to have a different idea on this. Scoops are draggy..what works good on cruise might not cut it for the taxi way. Adding electric fans adds weight...so again, the balancing act continues. Everyone has tried to find that magical P-51 like scoop that allows air in, yet exits out cleanly with minimal drag.
The jet, quite frankly, is simply perfect. Smaller wings (17 ft versus the B & T's 21.5) give it higher wing loading and it scoots right along at 300mph +. They keep it light, strong and a very light jet engine pumps out 325 pounds of thrust.
So why doesnt everyone buy the jet? Well...if the folks who make the jet know its for a BD-5, there goes the warranty and no service...so im told. Its expensive to operate jets
Further...insurance? Forget it. If you can find someone that offers hull insurance, you're doing good.
Would I love to fly one? Yes. Would I buy one again? Only if made by BD-Micro...this thing is too precise, small and agile for my "advanced lego builder" level of construction. This is a very advanced kit. This isnt like a model battleship kit where every part is labelled and tells you where to put it. I loved my Bd-5 kit...but the stack of parts and a stack of blueprints...well...its over whelming for a novice.
Finally, we did inquire with the ballastic parachute folks...it couldn't be done....not without an extensive redesign and mucho $$...something you dont see a lot of in experimental aviation :) There is a YahooGroup for the BD-5 if folks want to get in on that...details at http://www.bd5.com
Hope this helps!
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That was a pleasant surprise!
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they have one at the evergreen museum that kids can sit in and see how the surfaces move to different stick input. my daughter was 11 and nearly filled the cockpit. to me it looked like a slightly oversized shoe.
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BD-Micro is located in Siletz, Oregon.....go visit :)
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We're restoring one in the Museum.
The first thought was to make it a child-friendly hands on exhibit.
Problem is, the kids will tear this little plane apart!
It's great to demonstrate how the control surfaces work, but I dont think it would survive more than 2 months.
I think we're going to make it flight ready again, and either trade it for a piece we want, or sell it.
I would trust this airplane, too. All the guys rebuilding it are former Aerospace engineers/Mechanics/Assembly line personnel.
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Take some pics, Muck...I'd love to see it.
I'd be curious if it has the stretched fuselage like mine did, etc etc
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I'll get 'em next Wednesday. Problem is, I can't post them. Don't I need to get them onto a websight and link to it?
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Originally posted by Animal
That was a pleasant surprise!
c'mon! You used the "golden salmon egg of bait" the word Terrorist.
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I think Saint or someone else had a nice web drive hosting thingie...I'm sure there are folks here that could email you about hosting them