Bede BD-12
The BD-12 was an American homebuilt aircraft designed by Jim Bede and produced by Bede Aircraft of Medina, Ohio. Introduced in the 1990s, it was intended to be sold as a kit for amateur builders, but only one aircraft was ever completed. It first flew in 1995.
The BD-12 was a larger, updated version of the BD-5, with a cantilever low wing, two seats side by side under a gull-wing canopy, retractable tricycle landing gear, and a single engine in a pusher arrangement. It was built from fibre-reinforced plastic composite materials. The wing span was 23 feet with flaps and a wing area of 93 square feet.
Power options were a 100 hp Continental O-200A or a 150 hp Lycoming O-320. The empty weight was 680 lb and the gross weight 1,310 lb, giving a useful load of 630 lb. With full fuel (37 gallons), the payload for the pilot, passenger, and baggage was about 408 lb.
Performance included a takeoff distance of about 725 feet and a landing roll of about 800 feet on standard day. Production never started due to tooling costs and lack of funds, and the BD-12 design was later developed into the four-seat BD-14.
As of April 2015, no BD-12s were registered with the FAA in the United States, though one had previously been registered to the designer.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:51 (CET).