"Bart D. Hull" wrote ...
There was a BD-5J that was used as the "Coors Silver Bullet" and then was
used
for shows at Oshkosh, etc. I could see that particular BD-5 as having more
than
350 hours on it. I don't know if this particular bird is still flying.

After each airshow, the wings were pulled off and it was put in a trailer.
Makes
sense as far as having a car and tools at the airshow as well as your
plane.

There's a dirty little secret about the Microturbo TRS 18 engine used in the
BD-5J that the owners don't like to talk about. It only gets 50 hours
between hot section overhauls and a hot section overhaul costs $5,000. The
plane is trailered to airshows because the owners don't want to pay the $100
per hour in maintenance costs for the hot section. Well, that and the fact
that the airplane doesn't even have enough fuel for VFR reserves when it
takes off.

Juan's engine, the Microturbo Cougar, on the other hand is a different sort
of animal. It was designed for target drones and has a much lower thrust
rating. Basically it's a disposable engine but if he ever gets it flying
he'll sell it and the airframe to you for $100,000.

Rich