BD5-Captain

Also why does it say that I am a new member, I have been on here for a few years? Did something get reset?

Hello team,,, is there a reason I can’t see classifieds? Or did I break something?

Many pilot have got stuck into a build only to discover two (or more) years down the road they have a plane and no recent experience flying. This has caused a LOT of very short periods of new plane ownerships. Cozy and Long EZ examples are well represented. It is not that the models are hard to fly. Quirky, maybe.This is not advice. I would be finding someone who could objectively tell me I was or wasn't safe to fly whatever I just built. I would pay them for their opinion like it was worth something. Relative to the cost of the build its a cheap form of insurance.

Hi Ron and welcome to these interesting pages. Rave you read the Wikipedia on BD5 history? They are fast and unforgiving, a bit like the Mooney I owned for some years only giving it up last year as I now am building a fibreglass Cri Cri similar aircraft. The aim for this aircraft is under $10k. I am on track with the price and have the engines, foam and wheels brakes etc. The engines are two Hirth single cylinder engines. But the reason for telling you this is that I have a Cozy IV partially finished that I started and stopped when I bought the Mooney for the outback work I was doing. Being retired I will never have the money to finish it and the wife will not fly anymore so it is not needed. I would like to finish it but only to sell it and I would rather concentrate on the Cri Cri style aircraft with aerobatics etc.I do not know what engines you intend to use in the BD5 but I would suggest a water cooled two stroke engine, the are so much more difficult to seize. I have had a rough running Lycoming from chilling the engine. I think that it is best that you look at water cooling being a very low time pilot, it is more difficult to destroy a water cooled engine as a low time pilot. I can assist with a Hirth engine if you are interested (I must declare an interest as I am a Hirth agent in Australia).

 

Cheers Geoff

i am also interested in your Cri Cri project, any chance i could see your progress? i have Cru Cri plans on a shelf here somewhere also.

Ron

That makes two of us at least. What sticks in my memory is the speed of th u/c cycling - down one sec, gone the next.

I saw one fly once. I think that makes me fairly rare. It all happens quickly. Nev

All good points, life is all about choices really, the BD5 is first because that's what I have always wanted, it's why I bought them...

I do have some experience of flying (albeit without a license ), which is a benefit of growing up in remote Aust, oh that and having a girlfriend at the time who's dad owned a c182.... The gulf country from the air is just stunning, actually from the ground it is just as awesome.....

The only reason for for modifying the cozy is to take into account some of the comfort features already being used by experimental builders around the world and to make it more of transport/camper for my wife and I. i.e. Two seater and loads of luggage (safe storage) room, and a much stronger landing gear setup, something that would handle the odd grass strip, the Birdsville races or even Lake Eyre if I want to . Just so my options of travelling the greatest country on earth, Australia, are not toooooo restricted.... Oh and the wife won't get in it unless it has a BRS, so there is comfort that at least one of us is completely sane...

The BD-5, yes they are complex and by the time it is built I will have reasonable hours under my belt, I'm not completely insane...... Well not yet anyway...

Also the primary point of failure (in the past) has been due to the lack of viable power plants, fuel issues, and yes some pilot issues... The last crash of a BD5 in Australia was due to a fuel vapour lock...... Apart from the complexity of the 5 it is still prone to the same issues any other 'Experimental Plane' is susceptible to.

I could be just as dead in grasshopper or drifter if I do not respect it, and if I'm honest, while not inviting death, I'd rather die doing something I love in the sky then sliding into old age watching others from the ground..

Hello all, new to your forum.......

I'm not a pilot yet but have made the start, student pilot....

I own 3 Bede BD5's which I recently imported for the U S of A, these are in my work shop as of last weekend where one lucky contender will be built/restored over the next year or 20.... Just kidding should be 2-3.... I have an understanding wife, and kids have flown the coupe..

I also have the makings of a highly modified...... Well it will be, Cozy MKIV....... This one doesn't scare me as much as the BD5, but it will receive "no" loving until one of the BD's is rocketing trough the skies....

Anyway will drop on and of line to see what's what.... What...

Would love to hear from any other BD-5 owners if there are any herein, flying or not...

Ron