The BD-5J AKA the world’s smallest jet made its début in China and it looks like the local press love the small thing.

What stands at just five feet nine inches, weighs 416 pounds, and can cruise through the skies above screeching its turbojet engines at over 200 MPH? Why, it’s the BD-5J AKA the world’s smallest jet and as per China Daily on their short report on this tiny wonder earlier today (Nov. 19, 2018) the tiny jet made its debut at the Reno International Championship Air Race as the FLS Microjet screeched through Wuhan, China, wowing crowds.

Here’s a couple of photos that took the crowd by surprise, below.

As you can see, an above average height man can easily tower of this microjet, almost making it unbelievable that such a small thing can get off the ground, not to mention touching 200 MPH.

Microjets have been around much longer than you think. The most popular, the Bede BD-5, was designed, engineered, and manufactured in the late 1960s with over 150 built and 30 flying around today. Since it’s a homebrew jet of sorts, this jet’s been involved in its fair share of crashes. After all, it’s essentially an aerodynamic fuselage with a jet engined shoehorned in the rear.

This particular jet that made its appearance in China is a BD-5 modified and fitted with a Microturbo TRS 18-046 turbojet, presumably a far superior engine than the one it was originally designed for. More importantly, various safety improvements were made for the pilot’s benefit.

Here are a couple of videos I happened to find online showing some recent flights of this microjet.

On the ground, taxing, it’s hard to believe the darned thing can fly. But then the jet flies through the air and performs all sorts of stunts that it becomes evident that this is a bonafide personal jet that can mix it up with the best of them.

Source: China Daily

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