Response to Harvey Swack

In April of 2007 a Mr. Harvey Swack published a letter attacking the
"scruples" of Jim Bede, allegedly because Jim Bede did not flight test
the aircraft. The letter was in response to an article the son of a
BD-5 builder wrote about his experiences with his dad and the building
and flying of his BD-5. Mr. Swack then added: "I cringed when I read
the story because this family's tragedy could have been prevented if
the designer had any scruples at all."

I sent the following to Sport Aviation in response to that letter, and
it appears the response was never published. Because of that I am
publishing the entire response here.

-----

Dear Editor,

In response to Mr. Harvey Swack's letter in the Member's Forum section
of EAA Sport Aviation, I feel compelled to point out to your readers
that the web site of the BD-5 Network (www.bd5.com) contains a copy of
the content of a formal paper entitled "BD-5 FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM
REPORT" authored by the late Mr. Les Berven, former Chief Test Pilot
of Bede Aircraft Inc. This paper was submitted to and published by the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots. It is my understanding that Mr.
Berven remained an active test pilot and member of the Society until
his passing in December of 2001.

I performed an extensive search on the Internet, and could not find
any similar documents for any aircraft designed by Mr. Swack, or any
aircraft associated with the name of Mr. Swack. I also checked the
definition of the word "scruples" on the Princeton University online
lexical database for the English language (Wordnet), and the result I
was presented with is: "motivation deriving logically from ethical or
moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions."

I believe any further interpretation of this information should be
left to the readers of your fine publication. Thank you for the
opportunity to express our viewpoint on this matter.

Sincerely,
Juan E. Jiménez
Director, The BD-5 Network
http://www.bd5.com

We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. Get that turd
off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

Tony

flybd5 wrote:
In April of 2007 a Mr. Harvey Swack published a letter attacking the
"scruples" of Jim Bede, allegedly because Jim Bede did not flight test
the aircraft. The letter was in response to an article the son of a
BD-5 builder wrote about his experiences with his dad and the building
and flying of his BD-5. Mr. Swack then added: "I cringed when I read
the story because this family's tragedy could have been prevented if
the designer had any scruples at all."

I sent the following to Sport Aviation in response to that letter, and
it appears the response was never published. Because of that I am
publishing the entire response here.

-----

Dear Editor,

In response to Mr. Harvey Swack's letter in the Member's Forum section
of EAA Sport Aviation, I feel compelled to point out to your readers
that the web site of the BD-5 Network (www.bd5.com) contains a copy of
the content of a formal paper entitled "BD-5 FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM
REPORT" authored by the late Mr. Les Berven, former Chief Test Pilot
of Bede Aircraft Inc. This paper was submitted to and published by the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots. It is my understanding that Mr.
Berven remained an active test pilot and member of the Society until
his passing in December of 2001.

I performed an extensive search on the Internet, and could not find
any similar documents for any aircraft designed by Mr. Swack, or any
aircraft associated with the name of Mr. Swack. I also checked the
definition of the word "scruples" on the Princeton University online
lexical database for the English language (Wordnet), and the result I
was presented with is: "motivation deriving logically from ethical or
moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions."

I believe any further interpretation of this information should be
left to the readers of your fine publication. Thank you for the
opportunity to express our viewpoint on this matter.

Sincerely,
Juan E. Jiménez
Director, The BD-5 Network
http://www.bd5.com

Why do I get a vivid mental picture of a little boy dressed in scruffy
torn jeans with bare feet poking a skunk with a sharpened stick???

John

Anthony W wrote:
We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. Get that turd
off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

So you're saying I'm the little boy and wan is the skunk?

Tony

John Ammeter wrote:
Why do I get a vivid mental picture of a little boy dressed in scruffy
torn jeans with bare feet poking a skunk with a sharpened stick???

John

Anthony W wrote:
We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. Get that
turd off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

John Ammeter wrote:
Why do I get a vivid mental picture of a little boy dressed in scruffy
torn jeans with bare feet poking a skunk with a sharpened stick???

John

The term "masochist" comes to mind.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

On Mar 3, 9:11�am, Anthony W wrote:
We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. �Get that turd
off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

Tony



flybd5 wrote:
In April of 2007 a Mr. Harvey Swack published a letter attacking the
"scruples" of Jim Bede, allegedly because Jim Bede did not flight test
the aircraft. The letter was in response to an article the son of a
BD-5 builder wrote about his experiences with his dad and the building
and flying of his BD-5. Mr. Swack then added: "I cringed when I read
the story because this family's tragedy could have been prevented if
the designer had any scruples at all."

I sent the following to Sport Aviation in response to that letter, and
it appears the response was never published. Because of that I am
publishing the entire response here.

-----

Dear Editor,

In response to Mr. Harvey Swack's letter in the Member's Forum section
of EAA Sport Aviation, I feel compelled to point out to your readers
that the web site of the BD-5 Network (www.bd5.com) contains a copy of
the content of a formal paper entitled "BD-5 FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM
REPORT" authored by the late Mr. Les Berven, former Chief Test Pilot
of Bede Aircraft Inc. This paper was submitted to and published by the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots. It is my understanding that Mr.
Berven remained an active test pilot and member of the Society until
his passing in December of 2001.

I performed an extensive search on the Internet, and could not find
any similar documents for any aircraft designed by Mr. Swack, or any
aircraft associated with the name of Mr. Swack. I also checked the
definition of the word "scruples" on the Princeton University online
lexical database for the English language (Wordnet), and the result I
was presented with is: "motivation deriving logically from ethical or
moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions."

I believe any further interpretation of this information should be
left to the readers of your fine publication. Thank you for the
opportunity to express our viewpoint on this matter.

Sincerely,
Juan E. Jim�nez
Director, The BD-5 Network
http://www.bd5.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Actually, the Air Force did an fairly extensive test program on the
BD-5J. My partner, Skip Holm, Skunkwork and air racing fame, was one
of the test pilots on the program. Quite frankly, Skip said he had a
fairly fun time with the aircraft. It would do maneuvers that Skip
thought would be great at an airshows. One in particular was flying
straight and level, then do a series of rudder reversals. After 3 or
4 reversals (these are hard over reversals), the BD would do a 360
degree pirouette. The altitude lose was only around 150 ft. The
entry speed was approximately 150 kts. Anyway, there was a fairly
extensive flight test program.

The results were sort of mixed. The flying qualities were not to
airforce standard, but nonetheless, Skip's impression was that "it was
fun to fly". Obviously, the airforce elected not to continue any
further with the program (a pilot proficiency aircraft), and the rest
was history. Several of the BDs were destroyed during the eval
effort. Unfortunately, one pilot became a parapalegic in an accident
where the thrust reverser was deployed unbeknownst to him. Another
was fairly torn apart in a spin test (Skip). The skins came lose on
the wing and dumping the fuel with an ensuing landing on the runway
with wing skins dragging (I didn't witness this, but Skp told me the
story, he was obviously flying that day.).

Thought you folks may be interested in the story. One could probably
say that the BD-5 had far more testing that just about any
experimental aircraft. And the testing was by real professional
engineering test pilots.

Best Regards,

Dave

wrote...
Thought you folks may be interested in the story. One could probably
say that the BD-5 had far more testing that just about any
experimental aircraft. And the testing was by real professional
engineering test pilots.


Dave,

Keep in mind, both the performance and the stability of the prop version of
the plane are much different then the jet version used in rhe Air Force
program.

Rich

Richard Isakson wrote:

wrote...
Thought you folks may be interested in the story. One could probably
say that the BD-5 had far more testing that just about any
experimental aircraft. And the testing was by real professional
engineering test pilots.


Dave,

Keep in mind, both the performance and the stability of the prop version of
the plane are much different then the jet version used in rhe Air Force
program.

Rich



However, both have very light stick pressure, nearly zero breakout force
and hardly any stick gradient (increasing stick pressure with increasing
G load).

Which is quite unlike the feel of Air Force inventory.

And can make the plane a handful for a ham handed pilot.

Richard

On Mar 3, 11:11 am, Anthony W wrote:
We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. Get that turd
off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

Tony

Like many other minor ****ant dweebs in this newsgroup you appear to
be confusing me with someone who gives a flying intercourse what you
think. Trust me when I tell you you're barking up the wrong tree, boy.

Search the web for the name Les Berven. He flew over 1,000 hours on
the BD-5 flight test program, on both recip and jets. If you've ever
flown any airliners Boeing has produced since the 1970's, you have Les
Berven to thank for making sure the aircraft flies as it was designed
to. If you've ever been warned about wake turbulence on approach to a
runway, you have Les Berven to thank for that. And that's just for
starters.

"Berven test flew and certified every make of Boeing airliner since
the late 1970s, and made a name for himself pushing these aircraft to
their limits.While test flying the 777 in the mid-1990s, Berven once
performed 54 stall tests in a single day. In 1995, Berven helped
investigate the crash of a US Airways Boeing 737 near Pittsburgh. A
wake vortex was suspected, and to test the theory Berven flew a 737
into wake vortices over 200 times."

Sit your diapered butt down and STFU, sonny.

Juan

flybd5 wrote:
On Mar 3, 11:11 am, Anthony W wrote:
We won't believe a word you say on the subject until you have logged
some serious hours in the piece of crap you call a BD5j. Get that turd
off the ground and maybe you will gain a milligram of credibility.

Tony

Like many other minor ****ant dweebs in this newsgroup you appear to
be confusing me with someone who gives a flying intercourse what you
think. Trust me when I tell you you're barking up the wrong tree, boy.

Juan

Nope you still haven't got that turd off the ground.