AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012 - 49

DETAILS/ A triple-redundant electrical

system, FADEC engine controls, and an angle of attack indicator are among the upgrades incorporated in the FLS Microjet by BD-Micro Technologies. The integrated flight displays by Grand Rapids Technologies support optional XM weather and optional autopilot, and the displays can be customized. The cockpit systems are the most obvious upgrades to the original BD-5J design, although BD-Micro also made aerodynamic changes and replaced the original French Microturbo engine with a PBS TJ-100 engine made in the Czech Republic.

Back safely on the ground, they found the wings bent upward to angles of 18 and 23 degrees dihedral (the design angle was 5 degrees), and replaced them. The aircraft is one of a dozen BD–5Js still listed in the registry today. Bishop does note that the BD–5 has some flying characteristics that can surprise a new pilot. “The biggest problem with this airplane is landing it 10 feet in the air,” said Bishop, who had developed a training regimen that includes time in a glider to develop the proper sight picture. “You think you’re right on the ground, and you’re not—and that will take the gear off.” Because the thrust line is higher than on a typical airplane—all versions have an engine mounted high in the tail—BD–5s have a tendency to raise the nose as power is reduced. “After you fly them for just 10 or 15 hours, you don’t even notice that,” Bishop said. “It’s not very pronounced.” Juan Jiménez, who from 2001 to 2012 owned the Guinness World Record-holding “world’s smallest jet,” a BD–5J with an empty weight of 358 pounds, agrees that the thrust line can cause problems. Jiménez took a central role in the BD–5 community, building a website (www.bd5.com) that probably is the most complete repository of information about the aircraft. He set to work restoring a partially completed BD–5B in the 1990s, and like many builders, was frustrated by a lack of information. Completing the BD–5B made good on a dream inspired when Jiménez saw the aircraft featured in a magazine as a teen. He also became a clearinghouse of information and the glue that held a dwindling community of owners and builders together through the lean years. He never got a chance to fly his BD–5J, losing his medical certificate around the time it was certified airworthy in 2004. (The aircraft was sold this year.)
‘I LOVE THIS PLANE’

Karnes spent two decades polishing flaws as he saw them out of the original design, including a tendency for the wing skin to ripple when the spar flexed under high loads. “It looks like a bedsheet in a windstorm, the upper skin ripples that much,” he said of the original wing structure. “It’s quite alarming to the pilots.” Karnes added

an I-beam “super spar” to augment the tube spar and stiffen the wing, and “solved that problem.” Airfoil modifications also made the FLS Microject more docile in the stall regime, reported Lewis, who has flown F–14s and other fighters in the U.S. Navy. He said the tiny FLS Microjet is “one of the most fun planes I’ve ever flown. It’s just terribly fun to fly.” Fun is this aircraft’s primary purpose, and Bede’s greatest achievement as a designer may well have been inspiring generations of pilots. Lewis, who has flown it in two shows, said the little jet still draws a crowd. Karnes offers complete kits, including builder assistance at the factory, for $187,500 (less than $200,000 with airshow options including a smoke generator). He said his years of effort were very much a labor of love. “I love this plane. I have from the day I opened up that Mechanix Illustrated,” Karnes said. “To me, it’s the perfect fantasy airplane. You can go up and pretend to be Chuck Yeager all day long, and burn anywhere from 16 to 22 gallons of jet fuel an hour. That’s cheap fun in today’s market.” “[Karnes has] done a lot of things well,” Bede acknowledged, though he scoffed a little at the new wing spar design. “It’s just heavy.” Bede is working on his own update, a two-seat BD–25 still on the drawing board. He said the original goal of producing a lowcost personal aircraft is still attainable, with many more engine options now available. He recalls selling 56,000 BD–5 information kits, and believes he could do it again today. “It’s still out there, that market. People still want to fly. Why don’t they fly? Because the problems haven’t been solved for them,” Bede said. As for pilots, Bede reports that his annual visits to Oshkosh still spark perhaps two dozen conversations each year with people who got into aviation because of the BD–5. It’s this legacy that Bede is proudest of. “We thought it was going to change the face of aviation,” said Bishop, who reported similar experiences drawing crowds over the years he flew BD–5Js on the airshow circuit, sponsored by Coors. “And it could have.” Karnes, still planning further modifications, tweaks, and upgrades, has invested much to give it another chance. AOPA
EMAIL jim.moore@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2012