Author Topic: BD-5J down (Read 274 times)

LePaul · « **on:** June 16, 2006, 06:26:21 PM »

Sad, I knew this guy.

Link

Habu · « **Reply #1 on:** June 16, 2006, 08:20:43 PM »

What a bummer.

That plane does not have a very good record at all does it?

Maverick · « **Reply #2 on:** June 16, 2006, 08:41:53 PM »

Fair skies and tailwinds forever. RIP Brother Officer.

eagl · « **Reply #3 on:** June 17, 2006, 12:05:04 AM »

BD-5 is a demanding plane to fly. Small wing, relatively low thrust from the jet, not much fuel capacity, and I've read it had some handling quirks. Not too much for someone with jet experience to handle, but it would sure bite a careless or inexperienced pilot fast.

I wonder what happened. Airshow flying can cause stress on the airframe that the original designer never anticipated, so it could have been anything from structural failure to simply biffing into the ground. Since the engine kept running after the crash, it sounds like he may have just lost it or bottomed out of a maneuver too low and whacked the ground a bit too hard. But that's just speculation.

Debonair · « **Reply #4 on:** June 17, 2006, 12:31:33 AM »

iirc, about half of them have killed their pilots.
its a ride of experten only it seems.
i'd probably be frightened just to taxi one of them

MiloMorai · « **Reply #5 on:** June 17, 2006, 07:14:31 AM »

What I was told was that he was doing a loop. The top of the loop was not high enough for him to complete the bottom and he dove into the ground. There was high and gusty winds all day yesterday.

Now if only the sky will clear.

This is the same airshow, but at a different airport, that a P-51 stalled and crashed at when in moderate climbing turn after take-off a few years ago. The CG of the P-51 was to far to the rear just like during WW2 with a full aux fuselage tank. Had a sick feeling watching him go in for there was nothing he could do.