Gorgeous Skies; First Flight; Video

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Hey Everyone,

Please remember to follow me on Twitter.  @jamespwiebe  I'll be twittering from Sun N Fun and Oshkosh later this year.

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It was a gorgeous afternoon in Wichita, KS -- temperatures in the low 50's, calm winds, blue skies.

I was scheduled for a first flight in a new airplane.  I've done this a fair number of times, and it is always a process which is cautiously approached and ultimately thrilling.

This particular plane is equipped with a 45HP MZ-201 engine.  I ended up flying it with a couple different propellers (none of which was quite right) and I look forward to flying the plane the correct prop later this week.

But this flight was still pretty cool.  I attached a high definition portable camera to the wing, and took video of the flights.  You can see one of the videos here on Belite's YouTube channel.

Gene captured some great pics of the maiden flights -- and a couple of them are just spectacular.

The new owner is in California.  We look forward to shipping this plane in a few days.

You might enjoy reading the following details:

1)  The windshield still has the plastic film in place.  We pulled it away only on the left side of windshield, and held it in place with tape.  I couldn't see out the entire windshield.

2)  The fuselage frame is a welded version of our new aluminum framework.  The entire frame is constructed from aluminum.  The wings utilize carbon fiber spars (which you can't see in the picture.)

3)  The paint is just UV resistant primer from Stewart Systems.  We expect the customer to finish covering and painting the airplane, but it's up to him.

4)  The engine is a 45HP MZ-201 from Compact Radial Engines.

5)  First flight was just smooth and easy.

6)  You can see the camera (from GoPro) mounted under one of the wings. 

7)  This aircraft has the big 5x5 tires.  Note the white tire labels are still on.

Ultralight Aircraft from Belite, aluminum frame

Ultralight Airplane from Belite, aluminum frame

Ultralight Aircraft touching down

Ultralight Airplane from Belite pulls in

-- James Wiebe, EAA 2011 August Raspet recipient