Bede BD-5
These figures describe a typical build. Each aircraft of this design was built by its owner, and the one you are looking at may differ.
The BD-5 is Jim Bede's tiny single-seat pusher of 1971, a 13 ft 7 in aeroplane with a retractable tricycle gear and a two-stroke engine driving a propeller through a shaft, sold in thousands of kits that were never supplied with their intended engines; Jane's design figures were 355 lb empty, 659 lb gross, 229 mph cruise and 935 miles.
The BD-5 is the most famous unfinished kit in homebuilding and the few that fly are the work of determined owners who solved the engine, drive-shaft and cooling problems Bede never did, with Honda, Rotax and Subaru conversions and empty weights 150-200 lb above the design; the figures above are the 1974 brochure's and should be read as a target nobody met. It is a demanding aeroplane - a tiny wing, a fast approach, a seating position almost supine, an engine behind you that you cannot see - with a long accident history, and there is no two-seat version to train in, so the pilot's preparation is the whole risk. Every one is unique: the builder's modifications, the drive system and the gear are the inspection. The owner may maintain it and the condition inspection needs an A&P or the repairman certificate; BD-Micro Technologies supplies parts and completed kits.
Variants of the Bede BD-5
- BD-5 · 1971 · 34 active · this page
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Partial: 3.8 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
Compare with…
Put Bede BD-5 side by side with up to three other models.
- Bede BD-5
Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Hirth two-stroke (70 hp design engine); Honda, Rotax, Subaru and other conversions fitted |
| Horsepower | 70 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1971 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise (75 % power) | 199 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range (75 %, standard fuel, 30-min reserve) | 812 nm |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | 1,919 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 48 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 304 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 659 lb |
| Empty weight | 355 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | — |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | — |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 279 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 34 |
| Median year built | 1992 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 2 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 58.82 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 29.41 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 2 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 5.88 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 34 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 34 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 34 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 0.8 of 103 |
| Support | 2.7 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 0.3 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 3.8 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 321 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.04.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 77.5.
- Liquidity: class median 20.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 8 · scores Sep 30