The Final Push

I am into the final push to “complete” my Bede BD-4C airplane, get it flying, and fly it to AirVenture for the 50th anniversary celebration of the BD-4 airplane. It has been a busy week. I thrilled with how much more quickly things go when I have friends helping. At the same time, I am nervous about having a hard deadline.

In a nutshell, this is what you have to do to build and fly your own airplane in the US:

1. Build the airplane – I am mostly done with this part.
2. Register the airplane with the FAA – I have done this, filing the paperwork to register my airplane as N2468Z. The builder/manufacturer is “Zemon, Arthur” and the model is “Zemon BD-4C.” The kit was manufactured by BedeCorp LLC but I manufactured the airplane so I am the manufacturer on the FAA aircraft registration.
3. Get an airworthiness inspection – When the airplane is ready to fly, soon, I will have an FAA Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR) inspect the airplane and issue an airworthiness certificate.
4. Flight test the airplane – I need to perform 25 hours of flight testing before I can carry passengers or leave my designated flight test area, near my home airport. (Had I made other decisions about my engine and propeller, I would have needed 40 hours of flight test.)

This week, I got my plane back from Bede Aero Southeast with the work done that I had asked them to do. Now I have a short(ish) list of small(ish) tasks to do before the inspection. Over the years, many friends have offered to help so I am taking them up on their offers. (If you are in the St. Louis area and want to help, too, please let me know! I can use all the help that I can get.)

One of the huge benefits of being a member of EAA Chapter 32 is that I can use our Aviation Resource Center (ARC) for final assembly of my airplane. Unlike my garage, the ARC is large enough to easily house the Bede BD-4C with the wings installed and it is at the airport.

April 25

The plane arrived. We unloaded the plane. I took stock and began unpacking boxes. It took a long time to get the cowling off because one of the DZUS studs was caught on the clip wire and did not want to come loose. Other than that, things looked great and I am delighted with the work that Bede Aero Southeast did.

April 26

I had three helpers and in about four hours, we got a lot done:

Removed all of the tape and tape residue from the fuselage.

Removed the windshield (about 8 million bolts) so that I can more easily get behind the instrument panel.

Installed the Dynon heated pitot/angle-of-attack tube to the left wing.

Installed the tie down rings on the wings.

Pulled the wiring harnesses through the wings.

April 27

I had two helpers and we spent another four hours on several tasks:

Tried to run the vinyl tubing for the pitot and angle-of-attack (AOA) tube through the square channel at the front, left corner of the cabin. Failed miserably; there are too many wires, fuel lines, rivet heads, and nut plate channels inside there. The tubing will have to go outside the square channel.

Installed the lights on the wingtips. I selected the AeroLEDs Pulsar NSP. These have navigation+position lights (red/green/white) and strobe lights. AeroLEDs has a clever mounting system with a Y-shaped aluminum track bolted to the wing tip. The lights then slide onto the track and lock in place with an Allen screw. It was a lot more work than expected to get the track mounted. Because a hole had been drilled slightly off-center, the track deformed slightly and the light would not slide into place.

Extended the wiring harness for the heater controller for the Dynon pitot tube. The five wires were about 12 inches too short given where the controller box and pitot tube are mounted.

Installed the Dynon heated pitot tube.

Helpers Hall of Fame

I could not do this without the help of many friends and family. I created a Hall of Fame for them.

“Complete”

I put “complete” in quotation marks because the airplane will certainly not be done when I start flying it. I will not have the final upholstery. It will not have the interior soundproofing panels. It will not have its paint. Etc. Etc. Etc. As a matter of fact, the plane will probably never be “complete” because I will always find “one more thing” to do.