Art Zemon's Blog Posts

I took the last two test flights in N2468Z, my Bede BD-4C airplane, today. After landing, I made the official entry into the aircraft logbook. Having made that entry, and signed it, my airplane has completed “phase 1 flight test.” I am now free to fly it anywhere (no longer restricted to a flight test […]

On May 12, I took my Bede BD-4C airplane up for another test flight to refine the stall speeds. I had previously determined that the slowest stall speed, with the flaps fully extended, was 61 knots. That seemed too fast and I wanted to recheck it. Here is the overview graph of airspeed and vertical […]

Last Sunday, before the high water, I did a few quick performance and fuel flow tests in my Bede BD-4C airplane. I wanted to get a rough idea of “short field performance,” how little runway is required to take off and land. I also wanted to confirm the fuel flow rates at several typical engine […]

I took N2468Z, my Bede BD-4C airplane, on its first “cross country” flight this morning, not because I wanted to, mind you, but because Mother Nature has flood waters comin’ to my hangar. I had planned to spend Saturday moving my airplane and cleaning out the hangar but the NWS updated the forecast last night. […]

I took my Bede BD-4C airplane up for another test flight last Sunday. It was one of those gorgeous spring days with blue skies, light winds, and nice temperature—all too rare here in St. Louis. Having had a whole day of actual spring, I am anticipating sweltering summer within the week. Missouri, you see, has […]

I had N2468Z, my Bede BD-4C airplane, up for 1.7 hours on April 6. This flight was designed to test fuel flow and accurately measure airspeed so that I could calculate the airplane’s endurance and range, and calibrate the airspeed indicator. I flew up the Mississippi River past Quincy, IL and back. The flight went […]

I continued testing my Bede BD-4C airplane this week. I went out one evening and began flights to determine the best rate-of-climb speed, which would allow me to determine the best angle-of-climb speed. I got to fly and see a gorgeous sunset but I ran out of time and could not complete the tests. I […]

Several of you have talked to me about the stall tests of my airplane so I figured that I ought to do a short video and show you what is involved. Stalls are not anywhere near as exciting as they sound, certainly nothing like the way that Hollywood depicts them. Let’s start with a tiny […]

I took my Bede BD-4C airplane up for its seventh flight yesterday. Everything was smooth sailing, so to speak. Intake Manifold Repair On Thursday evening, I had ended my sixth flight with the engine backfiring badly. My mechanic discovered that the intake manifold had come loose from cylinder #2. In the photo above, you can […]

Spring and the new propeller governor for my Bede BD-4C airplane arrived so I took three afternoons off of work and went flying. 😀 I now have six flights and a total of 4.2 hours in my airplane. To say that this has been an amazing week would be an amazing understatement. Forgive me for […]

I started blogging about building my Bede BD-4C airplane back in 2011 because I wanted to keep my friends and relatives up to date on my progress. I have been delighted (and thoroughly surprised) to find that many people beyond my close circle are also interested. I was even more surprised to have several people […]

N2468Z, my Bede BD-4C, flew for the first time this afternoon 😀 It’s been a seven year journey! My Bede BD-4C flew well. It is light on the controls and fairly leaped off the ground, what with being light weight (one person and half fuel) and having a cold day (dense air). The takeoff was […]

Another Bede BD-4C builder asked for my drawings of the safety harness anchors that I designed. Here is a ZIP file containing Drawings of the support that I designed on which I mounted the tracks for seats from a Piper Drawings for the front and rear shoulder belt anchors Drawings for the rear seat belt […]

Earlier this month, my Bede BD-4C airplane was ready for its airworthiness inspection. With the government shut down, there is no one at the FAA to give final approval so I cannot obtain an airworthiness certificate and, therefore, cannot fly the airplane. I decided to move forward with the inspection, anyway, since I am now […]

I have reached an exciting point in the construction project of my Bede BD-4C airplane. Here is my project management board and you will see that the Before Inspection column is empty. But, I received a copy of this charming email message. So I wait for Donald and Mitch and Nancy to get their acts […]

Over the last couple of weeks, I have taken care of the last few little tasks that I wanted done before the airworthiness inspection of my Bede BD-4C airplane. Some were truly required for airworthiness (like installation of a magnetic compass) and some where in the “it’s time” category (like swapping the over-sized tires for […]