BD-4 BUILDERS/OWNERS
NEWSLETTER
Issue 13, March 1986
Dear BD-4 Builders and Owners,Well here it is again, past time to do a newsletter. I have received a lot of letters and telephone calls since the last newsletter so there must be many active builders out there yet. We even have a new builder eager to get going in New Zealand (see new addresses).
Well we did it! We moved into our 1000 sq. ft "music room" in our new hangar. It happened about four hair raising weeks after the last newsletter went out. We ended up moving in with walls all finished, carpet all in, some doors on, and a stool in the bathroom! Within a few days we had all the bathroom and kitchen cabinets in and everything operating. Would you believe that we had BD-4 visitors the very first night we spent in out new place? Keith Nicely and a friend were coming through on their way to the Arlington fly-in and stopped to stay over one night. Things weren't very organized but everything worked out.
Bill and Judy Yost flew their beautiful BD-4 in and stayed a couple of nights while on a short vacation in the Great Northwest. They flew up to the San Juan Islands and camped out for a couple of nights. We had a great time talking airplanes and about building and living on airports. When I first met Bill and Judy at Oshkosh it sounded like they would be far ahead of me getting their house/hangar built at Cameron airpark in California but Bill called a couple days ago and told me they are still trying to get everything coordinated. Bill called to ask what my BD-4 insurance costs. It seems his doubled this year and was wondering if it is worth it. I don't have any right now so I couldn't give him any good numbers. Can someone else out there let us know how good a deal they are getting?
Joe Pfiffner and his wife also paid us their yearly winter visit. They always come out to Oregon to visit their daughter and grandchildren, and then find time to drive all the way up here to talk airplanes. Joe hasn't flown his BD-4 out here yet - he will have to do that some summer.
We have been working - although at a slower pace - to get more done on our place. It is all painted, a lot of rock bulkheads are in place, an apron has been poured, and even the door has been installed. We are ready now to order the wood for the house.
If anyone happens to come to this area please stop in, we always love to talk airplanes.
AUTO GAS
Remember the article in issue 9 of the BD-4 newsletter? It was entitled "Fuel Octane Mystery" and was taken directly from an article by Don Black who also gave the talk at the forum tents during Oshkosh. (editors note: The article was removed from issue 9 by previous editors. It can be seen Xed out in the PDF version.) A couple of people have written me to ask if he had it all straight as they had read some articles that made it look like fuel octane indeed was a mystery to him. I have recently read some of the new articles myself arid apparently Mr. Black has it exactly backward!! The truth according to the new articles is that you have to subtract about 5 octane points from the auto pump octane to get the equivalent in avgas octane!
I'm not sure I know what to believe anymore! The only sense I can make out of it is that my two cars broth have 8.5:1 compression ratio just like my airplane and one of them runs just fine on rotgut regular and the other uses unleaded. The compression, ratio. really tells you what octane you need although some people say an aircooled engine is different because they usually run a little hotter. I started out using autogas by mixing it with 100 octane avgas, switching to that tank while flying and looking for any changes in operation. I have never found the slightest change. I eventially went to pure autogas and still couldn't tell the difference. I now have backed off to using a 50/50 mix.
Maybe good news is on the way, as someone saw an O-360 strapped to the EAA auto fuel test stand last Oshkosh.
BD-4 VISITS
I went on a trip for Boeing recently and organized it into what we call a "boondoggle". I was in Baltimore for a couple of days and then to Dallas for a seminar on "Advanced Avionics Integration". I had called Ray Ward in Houston earlier to see if there was anything to see in his hangar (home of the soon to be 300 HP SUPER BD-4). He welcomed me down to see what he had so I planned to spend a couple of extra days in Texas. While at the seminar, I was trying to figure out what to do one right and suddenly remembered that Fort Worth was close by and that Dick Penney lives there. Dick quickly volunteered to drive to a halfway meeting place. Dallas and Fort Worth are very close together but it takes a long time to get anywhere as the traffic is unbelievable. We had a fantastic dinner and did a lot of talking. Dick has a lot of modifications he wants to try on his airplane. He is putting the landing gear box under the fuselage just as Paul Kauffman did. The fuselage will end up being four inches thicker than usual but the front seat floor will be the same as a normal BD. This means there will be an empty chamber between the pilots feet and the bottom outside skin. The bottom of the cowling will have to come four inches lower. Dick is thinking of lowering the engine some so as to get a better over the nose visibility. The rear passenger's feet will fit down in to the lower chamber which should make the rear seat more comfortable. He is also making the rear seat wider. Dick was also thinking of giving the wing a zero angle of incidence but has given this up as it might make the attitude of the airplane to be too nose up when on final. Dick is now trying to figure out a way to make a windshield that is both longer and rounder than mine.
On my last night in Dallas, I had several hours to waste before catching my commuter flight to Houston so I decided to try to find the residential airpark near Plano, TX where Howard Walrath lives. With the Friday night traffic problems and my getting lost a few times, I only had time to take a quick look at Howard's BD-4 and be on my way. Howard has been too busy to work on his airplane for a while but is now retired and his wife says that it is definately the next project. The fuselage is mostly done, the engine is hung, the instrument panel is mostly done, the controls are in, and the control surfaces are done. Howard has a set of good wing panels but is going- to build the metal wing. If you need a good set of wing panels, he will probably part with them.
I made it back to Love field in time to fly to Hobby airport south of Houston. Ray picked me up and we headed back to his airport (Ward Airpark). No, he didn't pick me up with his BD-4 - there was fog forming and it was after dark. I had to ride in a "yellow GM product" as Scott DeGaynor calls them (this means Cadillac for those of you who haven't ridden with Scott).
Ray and Ann really made me feel at home and we had a great time talking BD-4. They have a beautiful house and hangar on their 3150 ft airport. Ann is a super BD-4 wife as she even went to work for Ray on Saturday so that we could talk airplanes all day. Ray just called yesterday and said that Ann has started taking taildragger lessons in a Cessna 170 and that she is doing well even on their airport which normally has a cross-wind. They are hoping that they can come to Oshkosh on of these years with "his and hers" BD-4s. Ray plans to keep both BDs for a while at least.
The 300 HP BD-4 is coming along very fast as Ray usually spends a short time at his business every day and then goes home to his hangar. Most of the metal wings and other control surfaces are completed and the fuselage has an 18 inch extension to the rear of the passenger compartment with the regular fuselage connected to the aft part of that. The rear passenger compartment sure looks huge compared to mine. The rear passengers seat is located the same distance from the front seats as in a normal BD-4. The battery is way back in the tail right now but it looks like it can be moved up some later. Ray is leaving the left side skin off until he does a preliminary weight and balance so the battery can still be easily moved.
Ray was very lucky to have found a fuselage to buy that had been beefed up in the exact areas he needed. The firewall/motormount area looks just right and a Cessna tubular gear and box have been installed. The motor mount has been fabricated and is ready for the engine. The engine, propeller, and cowling have been ordered direct from Swearingen (of SX-300 fame).
Ray has been weighing some of the major assemblies and you might be interested in what he found out.
The tail section weighs 183 lbs. with the center of gravity 83.7 inches aft of the rear of the square tube at the rear of the door. This is with the tailwheel in the normal position. This weight includes: skins, stabilator, rudder, controls, tailcone, tailwheel, tailwheel spring, control cables, stabilator control tube, luggage door, and some beef-up by the tailwheel spring and tailwheel steering control area.
The 300 HP engine weighs about 450 lbs versus about 300 for the O-360. The CG is 23.7 inches forward of the firewall. The engine weight does not include the exhaust system or air baffles.
The three bladed constant speed prop weighs 79 lbs. versus about 56 lbs. for ours. The CG of the prop is 50.8 inches forward of the firewall.
The cabin (from the firewall to the rear of the door) without the wings or wing control surfaces weighs 347 lbs with a CG of 25.75 inches aft of the firewall. This weight includes: engine mount (16 lbs.), seat without upholstery, windows, roof skin, cabin floor, landing gear, leg fairings and wheel pants, no radios but all instruments, battery just behind the firewall, doors, seat belts, brakes, and trim mechanism.
The metal wings without control surfaces or tips weigh 77 lbs each. The flaps and ailerons with counter weights weigh about 11 lbs for each side.
Ray said yesterday that if his parts come on time he should fly before Oshkosh.
By the time we had discussed all this stuff, the dogs started barking (they love airplanes in the pattern) and BD-4 owners Deene Ogden and Jim Stugart from Round Rock, TX (near Austin) carne in in Deene's BD. Deane's BD looks just as fine as it did Oshkosh 84 when I last saw it. Deene was a bit happy as he had just passed his CFII.
I had next intended to drive down to Harlingen, TX to visit my parents (snow birds) but Ray said that it is just uncool to drive in a state as large as Texas. He offered to let me use his ED but I just couldn't do that so he said I should ,use his wife's Cherokee 140. After a quick checkout I had a fun trip south.
After a couple of days of sun and visiting, I headed back to Ward airpark and Ray took me to Houston International so I could catch my flight home. This is the first ride I've had in Ray's BD-4 and it sure is a smooth, comfortable, high performance airplane. He has a good deal more interior in his and it does help quiet the cockpit. I also noticed that the IO-360 sounds smoother and seems to lean out better than my engine. I really had to laugh though as the flying characteristics are just like mine. When Ray took off, he pulls it off the runway at 70 MPH and then pushes the nose over to build the speed up to the best rate of climb speed and then resumes climb at over 1000 ft/min. As we made our approach to Houston International, we were a bit high or, final so Ray pulled the power all the way back and slowed to 80 mph. Thats what it takes as 80 gives you a lot of sink rate. A little added power and a squeeker wheel landing, then taxi forever looking for the General Aviation "brown shack".
It was really a fun trip and I want to thank everyone for putting up with me (especially Ann as she had to work two days because of me).
CAFE 400
The race this year sounds like it is the same as last year, Do you realize that the 3 or more seat money went to no one? Three BD-4s could have made some money by just flying the course! I can't promise the same thing will happen this year but it could. The two up and corning airplanes for this category are the Prescott Pusher and the Velocity. The Prescott Pusher was first advertized as being well over 200 mph cruise, but subsequent ads and test flight have shown that it is not anywhere near that fast. Now they talk about 184 mph.
The Velocity seem like a nice sleek airplane and the designer says he has seen 219 mph. at full power at sealevel, and 213 mph at full throttle and 7500 feet. Velocity has a fixed pitch propeller and the designer does not say what rpm was being used on these speed runs. If he does it like the Rutan crowd does, he could have been running well over 3000 rpm. There are so many variables that you really have to fly right next to each other to know the truth.
The P Pusher could be at the race this year but I doubt if the Velocity will be.
I am going to be back east during the race this year, so will miss it again.
FUEL TANKS
Paul Wood from Lincoln, NE recently purchased a BD-4 and is having some trouble with leaky fuel tanks and other things. Sorry I haven't written back sooner, Paul, but I will answer your questions here as maybe other readers have the same problem.
The fuel tank problem is a very common one and many people who buy a used BD are told by the seller that "it never leaked when I had it". This could be true but knowing BD-4's. I rather doubt it. The leaks that occur in the outside skin are usually very easy to correct by putting some sealant over the leaky spot on the inside of the tank or by putting a small fiberglass patch on the outside.
Leaks that occur along the rear of the wing are usually caused by not sealing the flap/aileron attachment brackets properly. These again are not too difficult to fix if you don't mind taking the flaps and ailerons off and getting in and using some Pro-Seal to fix the Problem. By the way, I have seer, builders pour unbelievable amounts of slosh into the wing in the hopes of sealing a leak such as this and never getting it done. Slosh is really only good for coating surfaces so gas can't attack them and sealing pin holes.
The hardest leaks I've seen to seal are the ones that occur in the ribs at each end of the fuel tank. The inboard rib seems to be the worst problem. This may be because of the slight flexing of the tubular spar which will be worse in the vicinity of the inboard rib than by the outboard rib. When you have a seep in one of these ribs, it usually requires cutting a hole in the last cell of the fuel tank, cleaning all the gunk (sloshing material and 2216 glue, et c.) off of the rib and then painting it with brushable Pro-Seal.
Before doing anything drastic, check the hose fittings and the fuel sender gasket to be sure they are not leaking. It sometimes helps to clean the area with solvent (or soap and water, or diesel fuel) and blow a thin layer of white flour or powder onto the surfaces to make it easier to see where the leak actually is. It is very difficult to tighten the fuel lines to the fittings that go into the tank so this is a frequent soruce of leaks. I like to coat the mating surfaces of the fittings with a little ProSeal to make sure they don't leak. Part of the problem here is that Bede supplied 2000 lb hydraulic lines to be used as fuel lines as they are extremely stiff. It would be a very good idea to get rid of these and put in something reasonable. The fuel pressures in this area are extremely small. Where working with the hoses be careful to not turn the fittings that go into the tank as that will certainly cause leaks - it is very difficult to work or, the aft fitting, sometimes requiring grinding down wrenches etc..
When cleaning the ribs, be sure to pay special attention to the area just around the spar. This is a very difficult area to get at but is by far the most important. The wing cell should be cut into so that you have good access to this area. If you think you are going to cut a 6 inch hole in the top of the wing and work through it, you are very mistaken. What it really requires is to cut a hole in the BOTTOM of the cell that goes 12 or more inches forward of the spar and 12 or more inches aft of the spar. It should be cut to within 1.5 inches of each rib. The panel can be cut in an 'H' shape with the center of the "H" parallel with the spar. You will then have to find a way to hold the 'H' open so that you can work freely. It really is a lot easier to work if the whole panel is cut out but it is a little easier to close up the hole again if everything is not cut away. Next you should use acetone or MEK and/or a flat scraper (looks like a wood chisel) to scrape away the slosh around the hole arid from the entire rib. Don't get lazy and quit before the job is done - set everything up so you can sit down and take your time while doing this. It helps to use a trouble light held on the other side of the rib you are cleaning to see where you aren't getting it right. This is a lot easier on the inboard rib where both sides are accessable.
The next job is to coat the rib with brushable Pro-Seal. A couple of good even coats should do it. The light will come in handy again here to see areas that have been missed.
The fiberglass skin can be closed up again by getting the cutout part to lay right and then covering the cut with about three layers of 8 oz fiberglass cloth (at least 2 inches wide) and polyester resin. The very early, very white opaque wing panels were made with epoxy and you will have to experiment to see what will work with these. If you think you need more strength than the fiberglass patch provides you can put manner to the gas cap installation.
I guess the one point I want to make clear is that you CANNOT fix a leaking tank by dumping more slosh into it. I have seen a couple thousand dollars in slosh go down the drain with out doing much good. A couple of times I have seen the tanks stay sealed for a month or two and then take up right where they left off. rdm
E. R. Stearns (3480 SW Western, Corvallis, OR 97333) says that he uses Super Glue to seal small leaks in the outer surface of the wing. Clean the area very well, put light vacuum on the tank, and then put a drop or two of glue on the leak.
LETTERS
Paul Wood (4444 B St, Lincoln, NE 68510 402-488-5219) sent a picture of his "new" airplane and it really looks nice. Paul has a few safety items to fix and some dual to fly before he can go very far. It is a real problem getting an instructor to give dual in homebuilts. The best method is to get to fly with a BD owner. Is there anyone in the Nebraska area who can give Paul a hand? Paul says that a CFI he knows claims that flying homebuilts is more dangerous than driving race cars. I'm not sure where he got that information but from everything I've heard, homebuilt accidents occur at a rate which is very close to that of certified aircraft if you don't count the early test flight hours. I certainly feel better flying my BD than some of the used and abused club airplanes I've been in. I like to tell people that I was sane, sober, and careful while building my airplane - car, you say the same for the builder of your certified airplane?
Paul also asked exactly what the "Tach Hours" mean on the tachometer? The tach hours will tell you actual hours as long as you run the proper rpm. I've beer, told that they are usually set for about 75 % power cruise rpm which is approximately 2400 on most engines. The tach hours will give you a good indication of actual time on an engine as it "goes slow" at low rpm and "goes fast" at the more wear producing high rpm. A Hobbs meter may not be very indicative of engine wear especially if you do a lot of taxiing and low rpm operation.Paul is also trying to re-engineer the front seats to improve their comfort and safety. If anyone has some drawings of the best way please share them with us.
John Stewart (675-D Conger ST, Eugene, OR 97402 503-484-4314) has his BD-4 for sale or trade. The price is $7000 including all avionics or $5500 without. The airplane is a tricycle gear with a Lycoming O-320 engine. It has an in cabin yoke, is almost IFR with an Escort 110, Cessna 300 NavCom, AT150 transponder, ELT with a couple of years left on the batteries, ADF (not working well), and a remote compass (not working well). The wings do leak but the plane is flyable. It was recently painted white, but has no trim paint. Runs on auto gas. John might be interested in a trade up to a 180 HP BD-4.
John is interested in something slower for local flying. He asked about the BD-6 and whether it was ever available. The BD-6 was never released but one was built which is on display at Oshkosh every year. Another example of being before it's time I'm afraid. rdm
John had a problem with vapor lock on his BD-4 when operating in some very hot weather. After noticing that other high wing airplanes do not have engine driven fuel pumps, he took his off and totally solved the problem. He discovered that the criterion for avoiding a pump is a maximum fuel flow rate to the carb that is 50 % greater than the maximum demand. With the hose open and at carb level he measured 30 gallons per hour.
John, made an ADF sense antenna with a thin metal strip as used for burglar alarms on windows. Placed on the leading edge, it does not appear to modify the airflow anymore than, would a coat of paint. He found it very hard to solder and thinks a thin brass strip would be better. He suggests using this method to put balanced VOR antennas on the wings. The only problem I can see with this is balancing the antennas as a normal VOR antenna has a 1/2 inch space between the 'ears' and this installation would require a lot more. Another problem is that the spar shields the antenna from the rear. The effect of this is much smaller when dealing with low frequencies such as ADF and LORAN. I drilled a small hole through the very leading edge of the ribs on my airplane (just up to the fuel tank) and inserted some pieces of welding rod soldered together to form a LORAN antenna. It worked pretty well but even at that low frequency (100 kHz), it would lose track occasionally due to the shadowing of the spar.
I have my VOR antennas in my wing tips but they are two separate antennas and each one is hooked up to a different radio. This works very well with the only problem being a short loss of signal if I'm using the right antenna and the VOR is directly off ray left wing. Each antenna is made up of a length of 1/16 inch copper coated welding rod or brazing rod which is soldered to the center conductor of the coax. I leave about 1 inch of shield on the end of the coax and connect it to the front edge of the spar with a solderless connector and a sheet metal screw. The antenna then lays from there to the outer tip of the wing tip. Make sure it cannot interfere with the operation of the aileron counter balance. On receive antennas it is not very important how long the rod is. I just used the size they came in - I guess about 2 feet. I also have my two glide-slope antennas and marker beacon antennas in the wings. They are all in the first inboard wing cell, two on each side of the cabin. The grounds for these antennas are connected to the side of the cabin, inside the wing root. Make the glide-slope antennas about 8 inches long and the marker beacon 18 to 24 inches.
Be sure to use RS-58 coax (50 ohm impedance) for all antennas on airplanes. rdm
John also mentions that it is much harder to put corn antennas in the wing as the corn signal is vertically polarized and should have a vertical antenna as should LORAN. A nearly horizontal antenna will work some but not nearly as well as a vertical antenna.
Bill Breau (222 Fern St, Newport Bch, CA 92663) sent a letter and picture to show his progress on his BD-4. It is skinned, on the gear and has the IO-320 B with a constant speed prop installed. He needs a cowl or nose bowl so give him a call if you can help.
Bill is a salesman for AMP connectors and says everyone should be warned about using aluminum cable for the long battery leads. The terminal must be made for aluminum wire and the proper tooling is a necessity. Aluminum wire is used on most large airline equipment but the terminal/wire size/tooling is critical. Bill has some ideas about connectors for use through the firewall etc. Bill, if you will send a writeup of how you did it, I will print it in the newsletter. rdm
John Hintermeister (RR3, Box 34-A, Muscatine, IA 52761) has a new, original BD-4 exhause system for the 180 HP Lycoming for sale for $250.00. These are stainless steel and have a fantastic heat riser built into them.
John Raffensparger (17122 Masemore Rd, Parkton, MD 21120 301-343-1079) is still trying to get set to supply some of the aluminum pieces for the BD. Ore of the things he is going to do is to make up a large vertical fin and rudder kit.
John has lost a couple of batteries to freezing up during the winter and has now hooked up a simple timer to turn the charger or, for a couple of hours per day. He just uses the simple "turn your lights or, and keep the burglars away" timer available everywhere.
He also built a simple system for safely jacking up his airplane for maintenance. He bolted together some aluminum channel so that a small hydraulic jack can set on it and therefore is positioned high enough so it can lift directly on the fuselage just aft of the lower motor mount. A piece of 2 X 2 aluminum angle is attached to a piece of pipe that slides over the top of the piston. This angle has a couple of ears bolted on to it and is connected to the pipe with a bolt so that the angle is allowed to pivot. It will pivot as the airplane is jacked up and will always stays tight against the fuselage. The 2 X 2 angle is about 3 inches long and is rubber covered. The angle is positioned so that it fits along the bottom and side of the fuselage.
Paul Kauffman (3625 Holliday Village, Traverse City, MI 49684 616938-9152) wrote to give some details on crashing his BD-4 during the second test flight. He had forgotten to safety the mixture control after doing some work on it. Paul had some injuries to his back but is getting along fine. He is already working on rebuilding.
Paul has the following items for sale: Propellor (new) metal Sensenich 74DM6-0-60 for O-320 Lye @ $600.00, center section spar (new) @ $175.00, Carburetor (new) Marvel-Schebler MS-4-SPA far O-320 @ $500.00, tires (new) Goodyear 15 X 6.00-6 two @ $45.00 each, tubes (new) Goodyear 15 X 6.00-6 two @ $15.00 each, BD-4 Book "Build Your Own Airplane" @ $20.00, HS attach bracket @ $25.00, Scott tailwheel (used) model 3200 - 8" tire @ $100.00, Wheels, brakes, tires and tubes (used) Goodyear 6.00-6 @ $100.00.
Don Hastings (1864 S Toltec, Mesa, AZ 85204 602-892-8334) has the following for sale: Grumman American AA-1A wings and center section (right wing needs some repair), wing fairings, gear brackets, control yoke assemble, misc. brackets and hardware. $ 450.00
I received a letter from Peggy Hewes telling us of the death of her husband, Don from sudden heart failure. Don had just finished a Dragonfly and its testing program and was planning to sell it soon. He had just started to remodel his BD-4. He made a new fiberglass cowling and a new wrap-around one piece windshield.
Along with all his contributions to NASA and science in general, he did a lot for the BD-4 cause - we will sorely miss him.
Star, Wilkins (1400 Islington Av., Islington, Ont M9A3K7 416-2318867) has been having trouble with his injector system for his O-320 engine and can't see spending $1000-1500 to get it rebuilt. He looked at the Ellison but the price scared him off. He ended up using a 1.5 inch, 90 degree copper water pipe elbow with welded on flanges and mounting a Marvel Schebler on it. He can't figure it out but he got a 15 mph speed increase and is very happy with the starting characteristics when compared with the injection system.
Steve Mahoney (913 Angela Ct, McMinnville, OR 95913 503-472-8668) wrote a long letter discussing a little 'incident' he had with his BD-4 in San Jose. He did a very rough landing (taildragger) and bent some parts in the main gear box. He said that everything bent at the same time - the leg, the box, arid the bolts. The box caved in just inboard of the 1/4 inch aluminum strengthening plate that the leg is tied to.
In analyzing what happened to cause the hard landing, Steve thinks it is probably the fact that he only did wheel landings and flew at light weights during his recently completed flight test. Headed down to San Jose on vacation, he still was not heavily loaded but there was a lot more weight aft than he was used to. When trying to wheel land with a heavy load in the rear, the stick has to be held forward much harder than normal or the airplane will "crow hop". If the tail sags the least bit on landing, the angle of attack of the wing increases and you fly off the runway again. Trying to stop this hopping is very difficult without adding power and knowing what you are doing. Steve has the airplane fixed now and is going to do a lot of flying with various loadings and is going to land with the tail much lower (three point). Steve's advice for what to do when a BD porpoises? ADD POWER AND GO AROUND!
Steve says he has a bent prop someone might make use of. It is a 76" diameter, 56-8" pitch EM series from a Cherokee 180. 2-3 inches on each end are bent back.
Martin Buck (RR-1 Shawnigan Lake, BC Canada VOR2W0, 604-743-5804) wrote to ask for help in locating a few items he needs to fix his airplane. Martin ran into weather and did some damage when he did a precautionary landing in an oat field. He needs: A Lycoming engine mount, firewall engine mounting brackets (4), newer style vertical fin and rudder, new windshield, possible a horizontal stabilizer.
Eric Munzer (1091 216th St., Langley, BC V3A6P4 604-530-8038) reports that his BD is off and flying - it sure looks beautiful ire the pictures! Eric hasn't giver, any specifics or. performance yet - I'm anxious to know just what the long wings do to overall performance.
Fred Hinsch (5020 Hollymount Bate, Richmond, BC Canada 604-271 3639) has also flown his BD-4 but seems to be having a very difficult time getting the proper propellor for his O-320. He has gone around the "circuit" as the fellows in Canada call it, but at full throttle and low rpm. Let us know how you are doing, Fred.
Rick Hatcher (PO Box 311, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805 208-267-3354) Just phoned while I was sitting here typing this out and is interested in selling his BD-4. Rick has been developing a Javelin style conversion for his airplane and has spent a tremendous amount of time on it. Now that it is about ready to fly, he can't get liability insurance for it due to his low total flight hours. He has decided that the best solution is to sell it. The engine is a 2000 cc Pinto engine that has been built up and turbocharged. It has a 3 inch, 1.6 to 1 cog belt reduction system. The systern is designed to run at a maximum engine rpm of 4800, and a max prop rpm of 3150. The engine should put out 125 HP with zero boost and about twice that with a 10 lb boost. The propeller is an "almost constant speed", 68 X 74. The radiator is below the engine and is set up with a header tank. The wings are all built , fuel tested, and painted (3 cells of fuel ire each wing). The fuselage is quite complete with a lot of the interior done.It has all basic flight and engine instruments.
Rick. is asking $9800 complete or $8800 without the engine.
Norbert Eberle (805 8th Ave NE, Mandan, ND 58554 701-663-3277) needs a Murphy nosewheel tire.
John Hartman (38 Pinecrest Dr., Bedford, NH 03102 603-472-3452) needs nut plates for the main gear box.
BD-4 20 YEAR CELEBRATION
Several of us have been talking about having a BIG year at Oshkosh one of these years. The BD-4 was introduced at Oshkosh (Rockford) in 1968 so it seems appropriate to have a 20 year anniversary celebration in 1988. That seems like a long way away but as homebuilders know, you probably still won't get your airplane done in time! I think it should be possible for us to get over 100 BD-4s there for the celebration. I've told you about this early enough, so get working and start Planning vacation for the first week of August 1988 (before your wife gets it planned for something else). We should plan on getting everyone there for two days, probably Sunday and Monday. We (Hugo?) should plan on a large banquette and maybe we can find the "BD-4 trophy" or make up some new ones such as: best overall, best interior, best finish, best panel, greatest distance flown, newest, highest time, fastest (300 HP not allowed), most original, and oldest. Send in your ideas!
We could organize group flights from different parts of the country to give some support for those who haven't been to the BIG ONE before.
DUES
If you will check your address label, a "@" indicates that you are paid up for the next few newsletters. Those with an "*" will be dropped after this newsletter. Dues are $5.00 for the next 5 or so, and $13.00 for all the past letters.Thanks to all of you who sent money and the nice letters!