BD-4 Builder/Owner: Bob Hoey

Name	Bob Hoey
Address	, CA , US
Airport
Phone
Email	(please contact the webmaster to receive the email address of this builder.)
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Callsign	N-24HB
S/N#
Project Status	flying
First Flight	July 1977
Pilot
Last Update	2002-05-04
Remarks	My airplane has a Lyc. O-360A1A engine (purchased new from Bede in 1974 for a price that is unbelievable in todays market). I am using a McCauley metal, fixed pitch prop. It was delivered as a 74-60 but I have pitched it up to 65 inches. The airplane cruises at an honest 170 mph at 2650 rpm. Top speed is about 183, but that overspeeds my engine to about 2780 rpm. The kit was purchased from Jim Bede in 1974 and flown in July 1979. It has the fiberglass wing panels (which DO leak on occasions, but probably no more severe than any other airplane with an integral tank). It was built pretty much per the drawings, (including the fuel system) except for the tail wheel. The tail-dragger conversion required a little innovation for determining how to mount the seats and how to transfer the tail wheel side loads into the fuselage. It is a fairly light airplane as BD's go - empty wt. is 1140 lbs. It is now 23 years old and has 940 hours on it. The airplane has been flown to Oshkosh 3 times ('81, '83, '88) and has been to most of the west coast flyins (Arlington, Merced, Watsonville, etc.).

 

Images
Click on the thumbnails to view the full-sized image.

	Here is my BD-4 flying over Palmdale several years ago.
	Here is a photo taken by Norm Goyer for the article in Custom Planes in 1999.
	The interior of the airplane is adequate, but not plush. The instrument panel is pretty sparse with a minimum of expensive radios and gadgets. It is strictly a VFR airplane. There are NO gyros in the airplane, so I am not tempted to push my luck in bad weather. I just land and wait it out.
	A close up of the windshield showing the louvres that are installed on each front corner. There is a vortex that forms at the upper corner of the cowl that beats on the forward side window ( determined by taping tufts to the window). The vanes that I added are fairly small and tend to hide behind the corner post so as not to block your vision. They do improve the air flow around the corner and reduce the buffeting on the forward side windows.
	I recently removed the standard BD carburetor air intake system (shown on the other photos) and replaced it with one that is similar to those on Van Grunsven's RV's. The original Bede design required that the air turn six, 90 degree corners before entering the carb. The RV design makes one turn. My engine is now "breathing" much better, and climb performance is improved. The wheel and brake covers are also shown on this photo. Every little bit helps!

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