Monday, April 12, 2010

Details on the new Trike


Our four aircraft news announcements have been posted. Today, I'm going to add important details on the new redesigned Trike.

First of all, it's beautiful. Based on customer feedback, it's much nicer than our original Trike design. It's also less expensive. It's also more configurable --- you can easily convert it from Tricycle to Taildragger to Tricycle gear.... whatever you're feeling like.

We're bringing our Trike demo plane to Sun N Fun.

Here's the cost details for our demo plane:

Basic Taildragger model, Ready to Fly: $24995
Trike Package: $1500 (add to ANY kit or ANY RTF airplane)
Carbon Fiber Wings: $3100 (this is a reduced price, details in another post)
Engine Swap: $1600 (this swaps the MZ-34 for the MZ-201 45HP engine)
Propeller Swap: $600 (this swaps a Tennessee wood for a 3 blade composite)
Instrument Panel UPGRADE to NEW AVIONICS: $0

TOTAL $31795 as configured

A basic Trike starts at $26495, RTF. ($24995 + $1500 Trike Package)

OK, now you're probably wondering: what do you get in a Trike package??

Here's the answer:

-- front gear tube, prebent from 1 5/8 chromalloy steel
-- front gear brace, prewelded using chromalloy steel
-- left and right .190 prebent / machined aluminum gear arms
-- delrin nylon machined blocks (4 pieces)
-- bolts / nuts
-- front modifications to fuselage -- carrier tubes prewelded and brace patch prewelded;
-- main landing gear mods to fuselage -- horizontal and vertical
reinforcements to fuselage for new gear hardpoints
-- disc brake packages (2)
-- machined aluminum disc brake mounts (2)
-- disc brake cables
-- heel brake weldments

This means that you can change a Trike back to a Taildragger (you may have to make a new exhaust for this swap...)

We put carbon fiber wings on our demo plane, because the weight savings allowed us to use a bigger, heavier MZ-201 engine.

You'll notice in our flickr photos that the Trike also has our new instrument panel with our new Avionics that we designed!! This new panel weighs about 10 ounces with basic 4 instruments installed: EGT/CHT; Inclinometer; Air Speed; and AGL altimeter. The LED displays are brilliant and easy to see, even in direct daylight. The weight includes the metal panel, which is gorgeous, and the instruments.



The Trike is the first real ultralight that's also a real airplane.!!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

On the eve of four announcements

It is Sunday evening; my wife and I have comfortably settled into our rental home in Lakeland Florida. Sun N Fun starts in two days. Tomorrow, we're sending out four news releases.

We're exhausted. Our staff and us have been working nearly around the clock for the last couple of weeks, trying to get everything ready and buttoned up for the show.

Most of my time has been spent on the development of a suite of avionics -- you'll be able to read about them soon enough. I've already concluded that once you fly with our new air speed indicator, you'll never use any other air speed indicator again. Ours is designed from the ground up for slow experimentals and ultralights. But it's just one of ten or so new avionics we're introducing, and it is by no means the coolest. Enough said on the avionics, or I'll spill the beans prematurely.

I asked for feedback on the Trike several weeks ago. You responded; and we completely redesigned it. Take a look at the pictures which have been posted on flickr
and you'll see that the Trike is now identical to our conventional taildragger model. And you can switch back and forth easily!

The Trike pictured is powered by a MZ202 engine with 45 horsepower. It uses carbon fiber wings, and tips the scales at about 250 pounds. Amazing.!

That's all for now.

See you at Sun N Fun in two days!

James

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Cessna / Carolina Liar / Show me what I’m looking for

In this part of the story, I am roughly 43 or 44 years old and CEO of a rapidly growing computer forensics company.

I have to go to Washington, DC for a series of meetings with my clients. They are large federal agencies, like the FBI, IRS, even the Secret Service, perhaps the....

I am under enormous pressure to grow revenue and increase profitability.

As usual, I book travel to Washington DC through either Delta or Airtran Airways. Both of these carriers have routings to DC which hub through Atlanta. This looks simple: a quick trip to Atlanta, a quick flight change, and I’m on my way to DC.

Except, this time, the trip takes a detour. My flight routes to Atlanta, and is very late. I miss my connection to Dulles airport. Instead of arriving around 10:30pm on my scheduled flight at Dulles, the carrier ‘graciously’ reroutes me to Reagan National on another flight. This alternative gets me to DC much later, and at the wrong airport, perhaps 25 miles from my hotel.

The flight arrives DC around 12:50 in the morning. We are probably the last flight of the day to arrive at Reagan.

I trudge to the rental car kiosks, across from the arrival concourse. They are closed. I have no rental car.

It is 1:15am. I am tired.

I go to the cab line location. There is no cab line. Reagan airport has gone dark, it is a virtual ghost town.

I pull out my cell phone and start calling 411 for cab phone #s. All have answering machines or answering services. They are booking cab rides for early morning rides; but none are operating now.

I call my wife. We have friends in the DC area; she calls them and they are willing to put me up.

I pray. Please God help me.

I cry. Literally. I am a middle aged business man, sitting in a dark airport, with no one around. I am crying.

A police officer approaches from nowhere. A cheerful black woman, I ask (beg) her to help me. Does she know of any cab companies which operate at 2:00am? Yes, she does.
20 minutes later, a cab pulls up.

I am on my way to my hotel. I arrive there at 3:00am. I had smartly prepaid for my hotel room (Priceline, I think.)

As luck would have it, Priceline had put me into a Marriott (Fairfield? Courtyard?) property. It would be a nice room, if it was waiting for me. But it wasn’t, my room has been sold; there is no room. The fact that my hotel room is prepaid is irrelevant. The hotel clerk is probably shocked that I showed up. But NOT TO WORRY, another cab is ready to take me to another motel, perhaps 6 or 7 miles south of Dulles area hotel. (Many hotels are full).

I check into my new no-brand motel. I see an insect move across the floor of my room. I call my wife; I settle into bed at 4:00am in the morning. I rise at 7:30am to prepare for my first meeting of the day. I am furious, beyond tired, and pissed.


Now I am one or two years older.

I purchase a nearly new Cessna T206H airplane. It hauls me, my sales people, and 300 pounds of trade show gear direct from Wichita to Dulles (940NM nonstop). I never again miss a flight. I always arrive when I want, where I want, and I never again go through security. My dispatch reliability is excellent, and I always found a way around bad weather. When I needed to, I delayed my own departure to accommodate safety. I exercised my instrument rating, and flew in the flight levels. Once, I cruised along at 300 knots groundspeed, in part due to a 130 knot tailwind.

I flew the plane 900 hours over a 3.5 year period.

I often arrive at Signature Flight Service at Dulles. I enjoy free ice cream, the serious, professional atmosphere in the lobby, and the fact that I am rubbing shoulders with Gulfstream drivers.

Once, I see Harry Reid (Nev – D) from 15 feet away in the Signature lobby. He is with private security (or Secret Service agents?). He does not seem to mind the fact that he is preparing to get on a jet and head home, while converting thousands of pounds of Jet A into vicious carbon. I will not remember this when the auto companies are pilloried for flying their jets to DC, so they can testify before congress.

Mostly, I enjoy the freedom and convenience of flying my efficient GA airplane.


Now I am 48 years old.

Kathy and I sold the business. 4 months later, I looked at the airplane, and realized that I had flown the T206 less than 2 hours in 120 days. Two months later, I spot my plane on an internet tracking website (www.flightaware.com) and it is running around the Bahamas. The wholesaler I sold my bird to told me it was headed to South America.


Now I am 51 years old.

I arrive at IAD, on a commercial flight which routed through Chicago. The flight was over an hour late, because of a mechanical issue. Thankfully, I am not rerouted to Reagan. My flight arrives Dulles late. I get in the cab, and provide the driver with my destination hotel in downtown DC.

The cab driver turns left, and we pull directly in front of Signature Flight Service. A lone Cessna is parked on the flight line. It is surrounded by dozens of jets, of all sizes. The tarmac is thick with jets.

I sigh.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Trike morphing

I'm sitting here at Chicago O'Hare, enroute to DC for a trade show. (No - not in the Belite! :-)

Thanks for your input on the Belite Trike. I received great posts and feedback, not only here, but by email, and from a Yahoo Group fan as well.

(you can see our Yahoo Group at:)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/belite-aircraft/

As a result, the Trike is morphing. We're going to try and pull off the impossible, which is get a brand new Trike configured and showable for Sun N Fun.

Here's the changes coming:

1) Out with the aluminum tail boom, back to trusty chromalloy steel (benefit: any Belite can become a Trike)

2) We're 'flipping' the main gear to make it a Trike (benefit: any Belite gear can be used on a Trike)

3) Nose gear is being rebuilt using beefier aluminum (benefit: stronger)

4) I'll be playing with getting a MZ201 on this plane (benefit: better performance, but at a price).

I'm also working on some exciting avionics options, and also at one or two more ways to squeeze pounds out of airplanes. I aim to keep it interesting!

Stay tuned, fly safe, have fun!

-- James