Nice job. I had to grin when the controller heard you say BD4. I looked up the registration of your plane so I know it must have some history since 1976. That would be interesting to hear about if you still have the plane and decide to make any more videos. In any case, I've enjoyed your videos as I live in T-ville.
Nice and smooth, good job. Quite a long final though... I'd stay higher longer. Thanks for the video, you've got a good plane there, BD-4's are very capable machines.
Hi Ken, I'm a Piper Archer owner who's interested in building a BD-4. What are the pros and cons of the BD-4. Is it a 2+2 or a true four seater? Handling? Thank you!
The BD-4B is a 2+2. The newer design BD-4C is a true 4 seater. It's fast and flies like a sports car handles with a good payload. I went from a Cherokee 140 to the BD and used pretty much the same techniques. Stalls are easy to recover from. Biggest change I had to do was watch the ball. It's a short plane and the ball likes to be almost anywhere but in the center so that's the only real change for me.
Thx for the footage. I am looking for a fast, high useful load, economic kit to build. How is the cross wind landing and taxiing capability with only the diff braking to steer with? How does this compare to a Cessna for instance? How is the head room/visibility for a big guy? Thx again for sharing!!
They didn't affect the speeds much and caused the abrupt stalls you can see in the video. I took them back off... didn't really like that stomach churning break. It stalls much more tamely without them.
Thx for the footage. I am looking for an fast, high useful load, economic kit to build. How is the cross wind landing and taxiing capability with only the diff braking to steer with? How does this compare to a Cessna for instance? How is the head room/visibility for a big guy?
I find it much more stable in crosswind landings than a Cessna but it's very responsive in normal flight. I have no problem landing in a 20 knot crosswind and have never had problems with taxiing. Brake pads last about 3 years for me but that can very depending on how much flying you do,
@@timduncan8450 I am 6"2". I don't have any problem with headroom but I did install Suzuki Samurai seats and fly with my seat slightly reclined. That along with my shoulder harness seem to be enough to keep me from being able to hit my head on the center spar in case of sudden stoppage. I don't think anyone over about 5'5" should try to sit in the back both because of head room and lack of leg room. Of course my plane is a BD-4B. The BD-4C has more headroom, is wider, and is longer so probably a better plane all around.
