Ultra Lightweight Instrument Panel

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I thought you might like to see the back of the instrument panel.  I also thought you might like to get some insight as to how the instrument panel is wired up, so let's do it.

The instrument panel in my aircraft is assembled from very lightweight Belite instruments.  My instruments provide information which is essential for flight in an inexpensive and easy to read manner.  As I was flying earlier tonight, I took another photo of the instruments inflight:

Belite Instrument Panel in flight

Kewl.  I like 'em.

The panel is designed to quickly be removed, so I can fly with minimal instrumentation when I want to.  (The blank hole on the left main panel is for an EGT/CHT, which will be added.  It's the only instrument I need when I pull the main panel.)

Earlier today, I took a picture of the back of the exact same instrument panel, and there definitely is some electronic magic going on in the wiring:

backside of Belite Instrument panel

Some notes:

1.  The top right module is a +12V regulator.  I use it to regulate the raw voltage from the main system/starter battery.   (I use an extremely lightweight lithium polymer 14.4v battery for the starter, which is a little hot to use with the instruments.  When fully charged, the lithium polymer battery reaches over 16.0 volts.)

2.  A potentiometer is used to control instrument dimming.  It's in the lower right corner, immediately below the power regulator.  One side is connected to +12V, the other to ground.  The wiper (middle) output of the potentiometer connects to all the instruments to provide dimming level input.  The dimmer worked really sweetly when I was flying in dusk conditions earlier tonight.  More on that in another post.

3.  Not shown is an inline fuse, 1A, which is connected to the power regulator input.

4.  YES, that is a steam gauge air speed indicator in the lower middle.  I don't have one in stock right now, so I used an old fashioned steam gauge.

5.  The shrink wrapped modules are either electronic altitude (pressure) sensors or VSI sensors.

6.  That's a voltmeter at the top.  It's only connected to show regulated voltage (around 12v) but I might add a switch to allow selection between unregulated and regulated voltage.  A hole is already drilled for the switch.

7.  All the instruments have their power wired from a common avionics power switch (lower right side of panel), along with a common ground.  Just switched power, ground, and dimming to each instrument.

I put it all on a scale, and the weight is 1 pound and a fraction of ounce.

Instrument panel, 1 pound 0.4 ounces, including wiring, switches, regulator, and panel. 

Belite Rollout; Todd Tiahrt grins; Many new pictures

Too much happened today.

The day started at 6:00am with a photo shoot of the new plane, Belite 254. We had a photographer come in and shoot an amazing series of photos of the plane as the sun rose. The lighting and weather were spectacular and it just seemed the plane wanted to look good. Sunrise coloring made the oranges in our corporate paint scheme just *pop*. See the photos! I've also posted them on facebook under my username, jamespwiebe.

I added some more pictures which also show the carbon fiber structure of the wing as it went into covering several weeks ago.

We've posted the first good photos of the instrument panel. One of my fellow workers, Gene Stratton, gave it coat after coat to make the wood just shine. We want our demonstrator to look good, and we want people to have a warm feeling when they get in the plane. The wood is a perfect offset to the carbon fiber. BTW, we added a carbon fiber glare panel above the wood, and we added trim around the wood. It's looking really sharp.

This afternoon, our rollout ceremony was held at the Old Town Warren water fountains. Todd Tiahrt was our speaker. While we have no illusions of solving Wichita's laid off aircraft employee crisis, it was still a bright spot for Wichita. Lots of media coverage; two different TV stations ran pieces and I'll bet the paper will have a nice story in the morning. We'll see.

The highlight for me was asking Todd Tiahrt if he'd like to get in the plane, immediately after we'd rolled off the cover. Everyone was walking up and looking at the plane. Todd got in, and he just smiled like a child with a new shiny toy. Made my day. People kept asking questions.

We asked our pastor, Ben Staley, to pray for us. He did so. Thank you Ben!

One gentleman came up to me and said he'd come from England to see what we were doing. Really!?! Well, no, but he was really from England, and would be taking our story back there. He was fascinated.

Many of our friends joined us at Cafe Moderne for some snacks after the event. It was fun. It was good to sit down and relax.

Top 10 questions:

1) What's it cost? A: not yet announced.
2) How fast? A: 55 knots
3) How slow? A: 24 knots
4) Where made? A: in our facility in Wichita
5) Can I work for you? A: send me a resume, but not right now
6) Kit or Built? A: either way works for us.
7) Do I need a pilot's license: A: No. And no FAA airplane registration as well!
8) What should I have to fly it? A: A solo endorsement + additional instruction in a similar airplane.
9) How far does it go? A: about 200 miles.
10) What's it cost? A: back to Question #1.

If you want to catch more Belite news, please follow me on facebook as well.

Thanks!

James