Second Accident This Month Rocks BD-5J Community

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 06.27.06 1445 EDT: Juan Jimenez, director of the BD-5 Network, issued the following statement on this morning's accident involving a BD-5J microjet.

Today we have lost a second member of our small BD-5 community in one month. Chuck Lischer, a well known airshow performer with a spotless reputation as an accomplished professional pilot, was lost when the Acrojet Special BD-5J he was flying impacted trees on final approach to Ocean City Municipal Airport in Maryland.

Mr. Lischer was flying one of Aerial Productions' Smart-1 jets in support of the defense of the security of this nation. The aircraft has been instrumental in teaching our armed forces how to detect, intercept and eliminate the threat of cruise missiles fired by our enemies against our country, our allies and our national interests. He died helping to defend his country from those who seek to destroy our freedom and our values as a democratic nation.

On behalf of the BD-5 Network and its worldwide community, I wish to extend my condolences to the family and loved ones of Chuck Lischer, and to the family at Aerial Productions, Inc., whose pilots and support personnel put their lives on the line on a near-daily basis with our tiny aircraft to help ensure the security of our nation, its citizens and its worldwide allies.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

For the second time in 11 days, a BD-5J microjet has crashed in North America.

The plane's pilot, 61-year-old airshow pilot Charles Lischer, was confirmed dead by Maryland State Police Berlin Barracks Lieutenant Douglas Dods, who responded to the accident just west of the Ocean City Municipal Airport (KOXB).

Lt. Dods told the Associated Press Lischer was manuevering the plane at approximately 10:30 am EDT Tuesday morning to test and calibrate instruments for research facilities on nearby Wallops Island.

The plane was operated by Aerial Productions of Marana, AZ, which is owned by BD-5J "Silver Bullet" pilot Bobby Bishop.

Bishop told ANN Lischer was in the pattern to land at Ocean City, and had just reported turning base-to-final before the plane went down.

"We're just mystified at this point," Bishop said. "Chuck was a very experienced pilot, and was very experienced in the plane."

Bishop said Lischer was participating in radar testing associated with the military prior to the accident, but added those tests were not related to the accident. (Editor's Note: Due to their small size, BD-5s have been used to simulate cruise missiles for government radar tests.)

This latest accident has hit the close-knit group of BD-5J owners and pilots hard. Just eleven days ago, another BD-5J -- flown by airshow pilot Scott Manning -- went down while practicing for a performance in Ottawa.

ANN will have more information on this accident as it becomes available. We also extend our condolences to Lischer's friends and family, both within and without the BD-5 community.

FMI: www.smart-1.us, www.bd5.com