The BD-17 incorporates everything that famed aircraft designer Jim Bede has learned in 45 years of aircraft design and engineering. A pioneer in the homebuilt aircraft field, Bede has launched a dozen significant designs, including the crowd-pleasing BD-5J single-seat pocket jet, sweetheart of a thousand air shows and star of the James Bond flick, Octopussy; The BD-4 (now the 4-B) which was the first star of the homebuilt industry; the fighter-like BD-10 single-place executive jet; and the two-place BD-1, which ultimately became the production Grumman American.

Below are some of the features that make the BD-17 an ideal plane for the first-time builder, an economical time-builder for pilots, and a superior aircraft where there is a premium on ability to cover a lot of ground at low cost:

• A Fast Build. A BD-17 can be assembled in less than 200 hours on your site. A two-car garage is more than adequate for construction, if you choose to do it yourself. In any case, dealer support is fast and dependable. More intense dealer involvement in construction is available.
• The minimum number of parts. Jim Bede's goal was to design an aircraft that can be built quickly, with maximum attention to simplicity. Using modular design, the result is an aircraft you can put in the air in 125- to 200 man hours of labor, as either a tricycle gear or tail-wheel aircraft, with a choice of three solid engines.
• A proven Bede-designed wing. The wing spar is strong, light and simple extruded aircraft-quality aluminum tube. Both wing spars slide over a center spar rigidly fastened to the fuselage, providing exceptional load-carrying strength. Ribs are made of the same honeycomb aluminum that makes the fuselage 300 percent stronger than conventional construction. The BD-17's wing spar has been tested to 11.2 Gs, where bending began to occur. The wing has never snapped or failed in destructive testing. The honeycomb wing ribs form a series of sealed panels in each wing, capable of holding up to ten gallons of fuel in each. For longer range, an additional panel on each wing can be sealed to store fuel.
• A honeycomb aluminum fuselage. The fuselage is built with slabs of honey-comb aluminum (note to designer - insert photo of honeycomb section here) which is a factory-assembled sandwich of two half-inch thick aluminum panels bonded to a center section of light, strong vertically-aligned quarter-inch high aluminum cells. The honeycomb panels are heavier than typical construction, but the added 20 percent in weight is more than offset by 300 percent greater strength.
• The name is bond. Fast bond. The fuselage panels are bonded together with .020 sheet-metal angles. We bond fuselage angles on the outside at the factory, to assure precise geometry. You add the inside bonding angles. The wing and empennage panels use the same bonding materials and techniques utilized in building military aircraft. The high-performance epoxy bonds cure in one hour at room temperature with minimum surfaced prep. Fuselage panels come cut to size with pre-drilled holes for internal bracketing.
• Torque-tube controls, polyfoam control surfaces. Controls on the BD-17 are innovative. The ailerons, like the flaps and rudder, are made of a sturdy self-skinning long-life polyurethane molded to a torque tube. To finish the control surfaces, the builder need only prime and paint the surface to complete the moving surfaces of the wings and tail. They have an unlimited life span.