The World's Smallest Jet! An Interview with Justin Lewis, Pilot of the FLS Microjet 

Next, go behind the scenes (and onto the runway) with a jet-powered school bus: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YR88ZQZw6aE.html Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for hundreds of other aviation and airshow videos!

Jim Bede passed away this past summer. It would be nice if they would at least acknowledge his ingenuity in the original design of the BD5.

Looks an awful lot like an updated version of the BD-5J, a craft I've been dreaming about since I was a kid, and I'm 57!

I have seen this aircraft multiple times. I love how the shape of the tail of this aircraft sort of acts as a vertical stabilizer along with the actual vertical stabilizer!

Dear Santa...

0:00 i thought the simpsons was about to start...

This looks like a really cool jet but It makes me nervous watching it fly extreme maneuvers because the wings don't look very strong.

It is cool to see this in person at the airshows.

Now hang on a minute. Like several others have noticed before me, that looks a whole lot like a Bede BD-5. It was used in a Bond film, and Burt Rutan did the conversion from petrol/ prop to turbojet on it. Richard Bache who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull used to own one.

What a fantastic little aeroplane. I must admit until seeing the video I had not come across it before. Thank you for posting the video.

2011? I've seen this exact airframe live and maneuvering in the mid '80's. The BD5j. What a cool little plane though, would be a blast to fly, I"m sure.

~250 lbs thrust in a ~400 lb plus ~200 pound pilot is pretty decent, but if you ask me (not that anyone ever does) this little puppy is just begging for an afterburner :)

Isn't it a Bede BD-5J Acrostar Jet, as seen in Octopussy?

Put a minigun on it, it becomes a deadly weapon, not only for its small size but its amazing maneuverability.

His hometown is where I live. I actually met him at a summer camp, he was picking somebody up.

Great piece. Anybody remember the Coors Silver Bullet? 😀

Nice little plane

This jet appeared on the air show circuit before 2011. I saw one fly in the 80s at the annual Reno Air Races, flown by Bob Bishop.

Wow this is so sick! I'm in aerospace engineering classes right now. Hopefully i'll get skilled enough and be successful enough in my career that i'll actually be able to consider building my own jet!

i recall this when they came OUT loved it BD5J

in 1973 we went to the EAA flyin at Oshkosh and they had the BD-5 & BD-5J there, it was so cool, looked like it would be lots of fun to fly.

Another brilliant person inspiring cool things.

Waow! Full glass cockpit, like a great one ! Amazing !

Many years ago 40 or 50, a man and his wife put on a jet show in central Texas. They each flew one about this size.

Its insane to think about how hard Germany and then the US worked 60 years ago to get a safe working jet... if they could have only warped time and grabbed this little thing... (not that it would have been good for Germany to get it), but its amazing how hard they all worked to achieve the knowledge contained in that tiny jet.

He said the plane amazed him as a kid. He and his engineering firm have just updated it.

*Seriously COOL ! ! !*

This was realy good! Thanks for uploading! Fantastic plane! :)

Is there a reason it is not mentioned that this is a modified Bede BD-5? Are they trying to separate themselves from Jim Bede and his series of airplanes? Strange.

Over 300 miles with an auxiliary tank? Not bad! I could fly that home for the holidays.

I can't wait to see it I'm really excited because it's going to be at both shows that I'm going to be attending

From the side it looks like something out of a Flash Gordon serial.

I remember reading about the first BD-5 jet engine conversion in Popular Science back in the early 70’s and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And it’s still very cool today. The thing just seems like it was always meant to have a jet engine. Anyway I wish I could take one of these up. Although I do seem to remember also reading that they can be a bit unstable and therefore tricky to fly safely.

It's the Honda Grom of aeroplanes

When this model kit sold in the early '70s it was called the BD-5J. Engine dependability back then was a big problem. Stability instructions was a class one should not miss back in the day w/o mocro gyros. Glad to see it catching attention this later date. : ) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sbDQdxX8zBI.html

What a beautiful thing !

This is an aircraft version of the BD5 Expermental that was designed by Corkey Fornof from Houma, Louisiana. When I was a kid before the James Bond movie stunt they were testing this little plane pulling it behind a Grumman F8F Bearcat. I saw them testing this thing flying over my house before it got an engine.

Very cool!

'It's ok to go a little be closer to the ground than you're used to.'

I remember James Bond unloading one (Bede 5J) from a horse trailer ...and then quickly took to the skies!

Id didn't appear in 2011. This is the jet powered version of the homebuilt BD-5, it's been around for decades (in jet version), think Coors Lite silver bullet...same exact jet.

Oh no he used papyrus as a font

J.W. "Corky" Fornof from Houma, La. owned and flew the BD5-J that was featured in the opening scenes of the James Bond movie "Octopussy" in the early '80s. I painted the trailer for Corky that he used to transport it from show to show. I custom painted several things for him before he left houma and moved to California to start his movie career as an aviation specialist designing and performing in various aviation scenes in many movies. Corky and his dad, Bill Fornof, also flew a matching pair of Grumman F-8-F Bearcats. His dad crashed in an air show in New Jersey in the late 70s and Corky went on as a solo performer. He later added the jet as part of his act. He did a performance in the 'cat, and would follow it with a performance in the BD5-J. Corky's dad, Bill, owned the local Cadillac/Oldsmobile dealership in Houma, which Corky inherited after his dad's crash at the age of 27, making him the youngest Caddy dealership owner in the country. Bill's top body man for the dealership kept up the paint on the 'cats, which in my opinion were the most beautiful planes then, and have never been topped, although the "Rare Bear" looks awesome too. Corky later went on to form a BD5-J trio with Bob Bishop and another pilot. Bob Bishop, and the other pilot also formed a two plane BD5-J team that was sponsored by Coors lite. By the way, the BD5-J was called a "micro jet" back then, so that's not a new thing.

That is worth the money! Beautiful machine!

Can you imagine something like that but supersonic ? That would be so cool.

thats how i feel about warriorcycles , i had many cycles but none like this one

Its a BD-7 featured in a Bond movie flying through a hangar.

Love the fast retracting gear. Too bad the range isn't three times longer.

yeaaaa flying this is on my bucket list now

Richard Bach, the guy that wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull used to fly one of these. I recall the original engine was an air-conditioning engine from a 747. I could be wrong.

Looks like the old Coors Silver Bullet.

THAT IS THE COOLEST JET IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!

Corky Fornhoff would be proud. That damn TRS-18 used to cause us endless problems.

Bede FTW! Anyone would think the Navy dude designed it.

Excellent for commuting. Imagine what the boss would say if you landed in the parking lot with that beauty

It's essentially a Bede-5 and that should be acknowledged.

Question... The airframe looks very similar to a Bede BD5....... IS that the origin of it?

The simplicity is Wisdom

Looks like a version of the Bede BD-5

This is smaller than the Horten 229. Amazing.

It is very beautiful if you had done it with variable wings like the f14 tomcat airplane, but I have realized, it is for the plane's planning, a greeting from Spain.

So beautiful jet, project!!!

In the 80's they called that kit "the silver bullet" and would advertise for a beer company.

Nice BD5-J. It is has been around since the 80s at least.

Designed by the late Jim Bede Esq., Medina OH...BD-5 lives on...keep it going junior!

Its like a throwback to the Me-163(in size). I want one.

This is very cool. Thanx.

Incredible

Wow !! My first think it was a pink panther episode lol!! Hey buddy honesty I hope that one day you come to show up at wings over Houston air show to perform and see live this wonder. Cheers

what a cool little plane

it's look like tons of fun to fly

"this is the most fun I ever had.....why?.....because you can look behind and see a pair of wings sitting right there"......Well yes I guess that's comforting to know. when flitting about the sky at 20,000 feet.

Micro jet nany's goat! Its a BD-5! Very shiney. I saw this critter in '72 at NAS Pensacola and the gear is as fast as it looks, so it the plane. They killed a bunch of wuffos early on. Bob Beattie wanted to sell it to the Navy as a trainer.

It is a fantastic aircraft. If, delta or swept wing will be added I think the speed may be could increase.

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silver bullet was the 1st small jet back in the 80s built just like this one!

The skins maybe the old BD-5 kit, however there is so much that has been changed under the skins, that it is considered a new version or model experimental aircraft... There is technology incorporated into this plane and mechanical changes that were never part of the original kits sold...

This is vangelish

I knew a pilot named... Bobby Bishop that flew one of these BD-5’s... I believe he was the pilot who flew through the hanger on the James Bond movie.. I lost track of Bobby... most who fly aerobatics in shows don’t seem to live very long... never the less, very impressive aircraft ... sadly, I’m 6’5” at 250 so all I can do is appreciate it from afar

Mass produce them with weapons and equipment and you got a massive fleet.

I don't believe this is the worlds smallest jet. The Cri-Cri, with two turbines on it, is quite a bit smaller than this.

2011? I saw this jet when it made the air show circuit in the eighties. It was the Coors LIght Silver Bullet Jet. I also remember the same plane sold as a BD-5 propeller plane kit. Nothing new here.

Totally cool!!!

Nice job

I LOVE IT!!!

I recall that the Bede 5 called for a 70hp Hirth snowmobile engine however the engine development failed to prove successful and reliable. The engine's location was in front of the propeller which called for a shaft and over heating may have been an issue too. Many kits were sold and projects were plentiful as I understand. I chose a more conventional experimental airplane and was extremely happy with it. Leo Loudenslager flew a Bede micro-jet too, but no credit is given from the featured air show pilot in this video. Leo died a month after a car hit him head-on while he was riding his motorcycle home from the store.

incredible engineering. I'll bet that is closing thing to piloting a cruise missile, sans the warhead.

I remember when the BD5J first came out they used to call it the flying coffin.

This isn't by any means new to the airshow circuit.Ive seen this aircraft a few different times in the late 80's It was then the Bud light micro jet and it was red and white.I even got to sit in the cockpit when I was 10. Still very cool to watch impressive little airframe.

very genius aerodynamics

Awesome bird Justin, always loved those microjets... Now, where's the GoPro POV stuff?!?!? lol

This guy is a fucking legend...

so if you want to eject you just open the window

This reminds be of a light jet that was called the BD-5 or something. (Very cool thrust reverser, by the way.)

really cool stuff

I just KNEW I've done something wrong in life... I've hung up my Air Force suit, and yet, I can't afford to buy such a wonderful silver machine. But I sure would love to.have one...

Hi. Nice little plane. It reminds me of the James Bond movie and the BD-5.

Brilliant brother 👍 it reminds me of the bond movie plane.

I'd like to see someone take this design a step further and build one using a delta wing configuration. Following that, it would be super cool if someone built a delta wing only version like a stealth bomber. The stealth fighter with it's twin tail controls would also be very cool in a miniature form.

This micro jet looks like something out of a James Bond movie!