Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
BEDE JET has licensed the rights to certificate, manufacture and market its BD-10 single-turbojet general-aviation aircraft to Peregrine Flight International, the Nevada-based company formed to help buyers of the BD-10 kitplane build their aircraft.
Kit shipments have been halted while Peregrine studies the requirements for US Part 23 certification of the two-seat BD-10, Bede says. A team of certification engineers, organised by the US Small Aircraft Manufacturer's Association, will present a certification plan in mid-January, says Peregrine executive vice-president Charles Miller.
Plans call for the BD-10 renamed the Peregrine Falcon, to be certificated by late 1996. The aircraft will be priced at between $1.4 million and $1.6 million and Peregrine will be "happy" to sell 15 to 20 a year, says Miller. The target market will be, wealthy individuals seeking a high-performance aircraft.
Peregrine is the parent company of Fox Aircraft, which was formed to assist builders of the BD-10 kitplane. One customer aircraft has been completed at Fox and two more are under construction. The company is also working on four sales demonstrators and five aircraft for the Peregrine Falcon Jet Demonstration Team, which plans to begin displays in 1996.
The first company example was being prepared for flight trials in mid-December, to test the pressurisation system and expand the flight envelope from 280kt (520km/h) to 410kt, to clear the aircraft to its planned maximum Mach number of 0.94. The certification-test aircraft will be completed in mid-February 1995, Miller says, and will incorporate several design improvements.
Bede says that the BD-10 was launched as a kitplane to establish its viability and to determine market response. Peregrine says that enthusiasm was high, but the market was limited because of the time required to complete the kit.
The certification programme was launched, Miller says, because of concern that some kit buyers would be tempted to circumvent US amateur-built rules by having their aircraft completed professionally.
Source: Flight International
