On Mar 3, 9:11�am, Anthony W wrote:
We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. �Get that turd
off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

Tony



flybd5 wrote:
In April of 2007 a Mr. Harvey Swack published a letter attacking the
"scruples" of Jim Bede, allegedly because Jim Bede did not flight test
the aircraft. The letter was in response to an article the son of a
BD-5 builder wrote about his experiences with his dad and the building
and flying of his BD-5. Mr. Swack then added: "I cringed when I read
the story because this family's tragedy could have been prevented if
the designer had any scruples at all."

I sent the following to Sport Aviation in response to that letter, and
it appears the response was never published. Because of that I am
publishing the entire response here.

-----

Dear Editor,

In response to Mr. Harvey Swack's letter in the Member's Forum section
of EAA Sport Aviation, I feel compelled to point out to your readers
that the web site of the BD-5 Network (www.bd5.com) contains a copy of
the content of a formal paper entitled "BD-5 FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM
REPORT" authored by the late Mr. Les Berven, former Chief Test Pilot
of Bede Aircraft Inc. This paper was submitted to and published by the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots. It is my understanding that Mr.
Berven remained an active test pilot and member of the Society until
his passing in December of 2001.

I performed an extensive search on the Internet, and could not find
any similar documents for any aircraft designed by Mr. Swack, or any
aircraft associated with the name of Mr. Swack. I also checked the
definition of the word "scruples" on the Princeton University online
lexical database for the English language (Wordnet), and the result I
was presented with is: "motivation deriving logically from ethical or
moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions."

I believe any further interpretation of this information should be
left to the readers of your fine publication. Thank you for the
opportunity to express our viewpoint on this matter.

Sincerely,
Juan E. Jim�nez
Director, The BD-5 Network
http://www.bd5.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Actually, the Air Force did an fairly extensive test program on the
BD-5J. My partner, Skip Holm, Skunkwork and air racing fame, was one
of the test pilots on the program. Quite frankly, Skip said he had a
fairly fun time with the aircraft. It would do maneuvers that Skip
thought would be great at an airshows. One in particular was flying
straight and level, then do a series of rudder reversals. After 3 or
4 reversals (these are hard over reversals), the BD would do a 360
degree pirouette. The altitude lose was only around 150 ft. The
entry speed was approximately 150 kts. Anyway, there was a fairly
extensive flight test program.

The results were sort of mixed. The flying qualities were not to
airforce standard, but nonetheless, Skip's impression was that "it was
fun to fly". Obviously, the airforce elected not to continue any
further with the program (a pilot proficiency aircraft), and the rest
was history. Several of the BDs were destroyed during the eval
effort. Unfortunately, one pilot became a parapalegic in an accident
where the thrust reverser was deployed unbeknownst to him. Another
was fairly torn apart in a spin test (Skip). The skins came lose on
the wing and dumping the fuel with an ensuing landing on the runway
with wing skins dragging (I didn't witness this, but Skp told me the
story, he was obviously flying that day.).

Thought you folks may be interested in the story. One could probably
say that the BD-5 had far more testing that just about any
experimental aircraft. And the testing was by real professional
engineering test pilots.

Best Regards,

Dave