Flying Bulls Bede BD-5J Microjet

Bede BD-5J Microjet

Licensed to thrill

ON FIRST ENTERING THE EXHIBITION HALL OF HANGAR-7, YOU CAN‘T HELP LOOKING UPWARD. UPWARD, TO THE GLASS ROOF AND THE THREESIXTY BAR. AND, OF COURSE, TO THE MASSIVE PROPELLERS OF THE WARBIRDS. YOU ONLY NOTICE THE BD-5J MICROJET LATER – BUT THE AMUSEMENT AND DELIGHT THAT IT EVOKES IN MANY VISITORS IS WAY BEYOND THEIR SIZE.

“Does it really fly? It‘s a model plane, isn‘t it?” The staff in Hangar-7 have got used to questions like this. No wonder. Positioned under the hull of a DC-6, the 3.80 m long Microjet BD-5J looks like a toy and makes even people with the worst flying phobia believe that flying must be child‘s play and a real pleasure.

This was probably also the impression that Sigi Angerer and Dietrich Mateschitz had when the two of them first encountered a BD-5J eighteen years ago at the Oshkosh Air Show in the USA. The microjets, still clad at that time in the colours of an American brewery, were popular guests at air shows. The world‘s smallest manned jet had already achieved star status in 1983 with its daredevil appearance in the James Bond film ‘Octopussy’. With a wing span of nearly five metres, a turbine engine giving a thrust of a massive 328 pounds and a top speed of almost 500 km/h, the aircraft are ideal for making spectacular moves in the air.

Their contact with Salzburg was revived in 2008 by the Flying Bulls pilot Guido Gehrmann. The former hang gliding world champion had a soft spot for small, agile aircraft – and the microjet was just the prey he was looking for. When the call came that a BD-5J was for sale, he barely hesitated. Of the 14 aircraft that were originally built, only three flyable planes still exist today. “The microjet is amazingly good-natured in terms of its handling and is actually easy to fly. Landing is a bit unusual, because the undercarriage is so short”, says Gehrmann, “so flying it as a glider is advisable. But there are no limits to the fun you can have with this plane in the air”.

Factbox

Name:	Bede BD-5J Microjet N53EJ
Manufacturer:	Bede Aviation / Bill Zivko
S/N:	53BD
Wingspan:	5,20 m
Length:	3,80 m
Height:	1,70 m
MTOW:	544 kg
Max. speed:	250 kts / 460 km/h
Cruising speed:	190 kts / 350 km/h
Range	600 km
Power plant:	Microturbo TRS 18-1-202
Power:	328 lbs / 150 kg
Service ceiling:	30.000 ft / 9.150 m
Year of construction:	1988
Seats:	1 pilot
Info/Specials:	232 kg basic weight