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I discovered a feature of this web site software that I didn't know about - users can select to receive a daily e-mail with any new stories posted to the site. To enable this feature, you need to log in and go to your Display Preferences menu in the User Functions section. You can select which different topics you want to receive, and the system will send an e-mail at midnight EST with any new stories.

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I was cleaning up a pile of paper in the office this weekend, and came across three copies of old Jim Bede magazine ads that I had forgotten about. It seems that Jim Bede ran a series of one page technical articles in one or more homebuilt aircraft magazines many years ago. I haven't conducted a technical review of the content, but it looks like there is quite a bit of useful or interesting design and flight test info in them.

I went on the web, and found a BD-5 web site that had links to many of the articles.

Read on for a list of articles with links on the web.

Update - 16 June 2009 - It looks like those articles disappeared from the web. I loaded copies on my server - read on for the links.

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Not a huge amount of progress today. Terry wanted to do a major reorganization of the home office/library/computer room, which had a long domino effect. The new office layout is a big improvement, so it was worth the time.

Late this afternoon I finally got back at the oil cooler. I fabricated some pieces of sheet aluminum to close off the bottom of the mount, and modified the sliding air door track to take a longer door.

I also puzzled out a concept of how I will control the door position. Initially, I wanted to use a simple push-pull knob, but all the ones I can find on the market have less than 3.5 inches of travel, and I need about 5 inches. I had crazy thoughts about some sort of bellcrank to get 5 inches of travel with 3.375 inches of knob travel, but I didn't like the extra complication, or the fact that the tension/compression on the Bowden cable would be greater than the force required to move the door. Now I'm thinking about making some sort of long lever in the cockpit (perhaps on the inboard side of the left landing gear box) with a pivot on the bottom end, and handle of the top, and the Bowden cable attached in a place to give 5 inches of travel.

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I was surfing the web today, and somehow ended up on Larry Bowen's web site. I noted that Larry has some useful landing gear box construction notes and photos. They are a useful supplement to my list of landing gear box gotchas.

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I spent several days in Montreal this week, then I came down with some sort of intestinal virus, so progress has been slow. This afternoon I was feeling well enough to venture a bit further from the facilities, so I did a bit more work on the oil cooler mount.

Early in the week I cut the hole in the back baffle to allow air to get to the oil cooler. Today I fabricated the sliding door that will control the amount of air that flows through the cooler.


As usually happens, I hadn't completely seen all the potential issues until after I could put the door in place. It turns out the door I made is a bit too short, so the bottom of the door is hidden behind the oil cooler when the door is all the way up. I'll have to make a longer door so I can attach the Bowden cable. I'm still working on the details of how I will control the door position from the cockpit.

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I had a look at the error logs for the web site this morning, and saw a whole bunch of error messages that I didn't expect to see. It looks like quite a few visitors had problems when trying to e-mail items from the site, or when trying to make comments. I think that users who had created an account on the site probably had no problems.

I think I have just managed to correct both problems. It would be useful if an anonymous visitor could try to make a comment on this item, so I can see if that works correctly. If you can't make a comment, please e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thanks.