$31,500 -- During Sun N Fun, this plane is offered for $7,000 discount.
This is the same plane that is on the April 2011 cover of Kitplanes Magazine!
Interested? Give us a call or drop us an email. First come, first serve.
"The Standard Pilot Blog"TM The Chipper and Radiant Blog for Experimental and Ultralight (Part 103) Aircraft (c) 2010 thru (c) 2020 by James Wiebe.
Showing posts with label superlite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label superlite. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Belite Ultralight Aircraft On Sale
Our Belite SuperLite Dragon is on sale during Sun N Fun!
$31,500 -- During Sun N Fun, this plane is offered for $7,000 discount.
This is the same plane that is on the April 2011 cover of Kitplanes Magazine!
Interested? Give us a call or drop us an email. First come, first serve.
$31,500 -- During Sun N Fun, this plane is offered for $7,000 discount.
This is the same plane that is on the April 2011 cover of Kitplanes Magazine!
Interested? Give us a call or drop us an email. First come, first serve.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Hirth F23 twin has a redundant cylinder
After reading this, some of you will shoot me down. It's OK -- I'm vowing to share what I know, no matter how embarrassing.
It seems like months ago -- but in fact, it was only two weeks ago: we had two days of glorious weather.
Our airport was alive with activity. 72 degree high temperatures (in January) brought out one helicopter, some gliders, along with their towplane, our ultralight, and a buzzing crowd of powered paragliders.
My crew was working hard on getting another plane ready for delivery; we'd just swapped a brand new F23 Hirth twin boxer into one of our Belites. (This particular plane is headed down to Texas and Florida to be a dealer demonstrator on floats... stuff for another post...) The F23 had already been running for a couple of hours, as we slowly cranked up the power and prepared the engine for first flight.
(Another person was performing the extended runup).
I did a careful preflight, ensuring that everything was OK. The airframe had already flown, (briefly), but it would be a first flight for this particular brand new engine.
The electric start on the engine kicked it to life very easily. A check on the 4 point safety harness, and I taxiied out to the active.
A quick runup, and I was accelerating down the runway -- albeit slowly. I shut it down and taxied back to the hangar. Realizing that power was low, I quickly (and incorrectly) concluded that the propeller had the wrong pitch. I had Gene fetch another with a better bite from our inventory of props, and a few minutes later it was torqued down and ready to go.
I taxied out again. I applied full throttle, and the engine powered up smoothly. Something was still wrong; RPM was quite low (at 800 RPM below full power); but the bird still wanted to fly, and I did to. So I let it take off.
I made a couple of circuits of the field, enjoying the perfect weather, and also enjoying harassing the powered paragliders that were hanging around the east end of the pattern. I sure wasn't happy with the power, though - it just didn't have nearly the snap I'd come to expect from our F33 installations in our Superlite models.
I landed the bird and taxied in. As the bird rolled to a stop, I told Gene I still thought we had a real problem with the engine.
He pulled the top off each carburetor in turn, inspecting the linkage.
Well, it turns out one of the ball swages on the twin carburetor cables had failed (they'd passed a pull test in the vise!) and one of the two carbs wasn't advancing past idle.
So I'd been flying with one cylinder. With a F23 Hirth, the second cylinder is not necessary for a good flight.
 |
| On this two cylinder engine, one cylinder is optional. |
It seems like months ago -- but in fact, it was only two weeks ago: we had two days of glorious weather.
Our airport was alive with activity. 72 degree high temperatures (in January) brought out one helicopter, some gliders, along with their towplane, our ultralight, and a buzzing crowd of powered paragliders.
My crew was working hard on getting another plane ready for delivery; we'd just swapped a brand new F23 Hirth twin boxer into one of our Belites. (This particular plane is headed down to Texas and Florida to be a dealer demonstrator on floats... stuff for another post...) The F23 had already been running for a couple of hours, as we slowly cranked up the power and prepared the engine for first flight.
(Another person was performing the extended runup).
I did a careful preflight, ensuring that everything was OK. The airframe had already flown, (briefly), but it would be a first flight for this particular brand new engine.
The electric start on the engine kicked it to life very easily. A check on the 4 point safety harness, and I taxiied out to the active.
A quick runup, and I was accelerating down the runway -- albeit slowly. I shut it down and taxied back to the hangar. Realizing that power was low, I quickly (and incorrectly) concluded that the propeller had the wrong pitch. I had Gene fetch another with a better bite from our inventory of props, and a few minutes later it was torqued down and ready to go.
I taxied out again. I applied full throttle, and the engine powered up smoothly. Something was still wrong; RPM was quite low (at 800 RPM below full power); but the bird still wanted to fly, and I did to. So I let it take off.
I made a couple of circuits of the field, enjoying the perfect weather, and also enjoying harassing the powered paragliders that were hanging around the east end of the pattern. I sure wasn't happy with the power, though - it just didn't have nearly the snap I'd come to expect from our F33 installations in our Superlite models.
I landed the bird and taxied in. As the bird rolled to a stop, I told Gene I still thought we had a real problem with the engine.
He pulled the top off each carburetor in turn, inspecting the linkage.
Well, it turns out one of the ball swages on the twin carburetor cables had failed (they'd passed a pull test in the vise!) and one of the two carbs wasn't advancing past idle.
So I'd been flying with one cylinder. With a F23 Hirth, the second cylinder is not necessary for a good flight.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Magazine Does a Photoshoot of Superlite
I enjoyed the experience of being a part of an aircraft photoshoot. It's even more interesting when you're flying an ultralight aircraft!
The photo session had several parts:
a) Some fly-bys, down the runway, to the left and the right of the photographer. My objective was to keep the wheels one feet off the runway, and to keep a wingtip over his head as I passed by. I was free to start a pullup when I was within 100 feet of him.
The photo session had several parts:
a) Some fly-bys, down the runway, to the left and the right of the photographer. My objective was to keep the wheels one feet off the runway, and to keep a wingtip over his head as I passed by. I was free to start a pullup when I was within 100 feet of him.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
a Hayfield Landing Highlights Belite's Utility
Long time readers of this blog may be aware that I have had training in mountain flying. I've been to Idaho many times, and I've enjoyed the skills I've acquired through mountain flying school and through practice into short, odd airfields. A recent post on this subject concerned several camping trips into the Thomas Creek airstrip. Another post covered, among other thing, a series wasp bites and and description of the gnarly final approach into the Shearer airstrip, deep in the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness in Idaho.
I enjoy flying into tight, short airfields that curve, hug terrain, pass by trees, and slope uphill. Ideally, they end in the side of the hill (and offer good camping and fishing nearby).
There is a hayfield next to our primary runway that offers some of these characteristics. It slopes uphill. It has a nice collection of trees. It has bumps. It has quite a bit of grass and weeds. It is relatively short. It is 'unimproved'.
It is an ideal location for showing the landing capabilities and utility of our airplane. The rough ground is a great demonstrator for our spring landing gear.
I wanted to demonstrate a nice 3 point landing, uphill, through the hayfield. I asked my able assistant Gene Stratton to standby and take pictures. I promised him a series of approaches into landing. As I 'dialed in' the strip, I was able to establish a final approach of just a few feet over the weeds at the beginning of the field. (Good mountain flying technique suggests the ability to hit a 50 foot spot... every time. You can do that with a Belite.)
The photos show the story.
This flight occured on September 28, about 1:30 in the afternoon. I tracked down final, adjusting for the crosswind. (Gene and I talked about my final approach crab angle after we debriefed on the ground, post-flight.) Winds were out of the north, 12 knots gusting to 19 knots. Engine power was set at about 35HP, even though the big Hirth develops 50HP when it's fully unleashed. Landing direction was ENE; about a 50 degree crosswind. FWIW, Wichita (KICT) Metar weather was:
If you are a potential purchaser, you might compare our Belite with other less capable ultralight aircraft that have stiff gear and no crosswind capabilities and no off-field capabilities and no ChromAloy steel in their structure -- in other words, ultralight aircraft that lack safety, strength, and fun.
A Belite exudes utility and usefulness, and is a blast to fly.
-- Photo credits: Gene Stratton.
I enjoy flying into tight, short airfields that curve, hug terrain, pass by trees, and slope uphill. Ideally, they end in the side of the hill (and offer good camping and fishing nearby).
There is a hayfield next to our primary runway that offers some of these characteristics. It slopes uphill. It has a nice collection of trees. It has bumps. It has quite a bit of grass and weeds. It is relatively short. It is 'unimproved'.
It is an ideal location for showing the landing capabilities and utility of our airplane. The rough ground is a great demonstrator for our spring landing gear.
I wanted to demonstrate a nice 3 point landing, uphill, through the hayfield. I asked my able assistant Gene Stratton to standby and take pictures. I promised him a series of approaches into landing. As I 'dialed in' the strip, I was able to establish a final approach of just a few feet over the weeds at the beginning of the field. (Good mountain flying technique suggests the ability to hit a 50 foot spot... every time. You can do that with a Belite.)
The photos show the story.
 |
| Hayfield Short Final, over the weeds. I love this picture. |
 |
| Over the 'numbers', field slopes uphill from here. Another great pic. |
 |
| Wheels kiss down on the Hay |
 |
| Another approach, a little higher |
 |
| Rollout in the hay, uphill. |
 |
| Engine shutdown after taxi back |
 |
| I'm posing by the Superlite |
 |
| Belite Superlite poses in the grass, by the trees. Where's the trout stream? |
KICT 281753Z 01012G19KT 10SM SCT044SCT150 SCT250 24/13 A2998
If you are a potential purchaser, you might compare our Belite with other less capable ultralight aircraft that have stiff gear and no crosswind capabilities and no off-field capabilities and no ChromAloy steel in their structure -- in other words, ultralight aircraft that lack safety, strength, and fun.
A Belite exudes utility and usefulness, and is a blast to fly.
-- Photo credits: Gene Stratton.
Kitplanes Magazine Comes and Visits...
We were pleased to have Ed Wischmeyer with Kitplanes magazine pay us a visit today!
I had a great time showing Ed our airplane and our shop. We'll see what he has to say in a few months.
Pictured below is Ed, after he completed a test flight in the Belite Superlite.
I had a great time showing Ed our airplane and our shop. We'll see what he has to say in a few months.
Pictured below is Ed, after he completed a test flight in the Belite Superlite.
 |
| Ed Wischmeyer of Kitplanes magazine concludes a test flight and makes some notes. |
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Vortex Generators and Ultralight Aircraft
Vortex Generators.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS ARTICLE, YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THESE OTHER ARTICLES ON VG's and STALL SPEEDS:
http://jameswiebe.blogspot.com/2010/09/even-more-info-on-stall-speed-vortex.html
http://jameswiebe.blogspot.com/2010/06/belite-coefficient-of-lift-and-stalling.html
Vortex generators are mounted on the top side of wings, and are designed to create small vortices as air passes over the wing.
As a result of these small vortices, vortex generators (Let's call them VGs, OK?) are responsible for doing some pretty amazing things. Concerning VGs, Wikipedia says the following:
"Vortex generators are likely to be found on the external surfaces of vehicles where flow separation is a potential problem because vortex generators delay flow separation. [3] On aircraft they are installed on the front third of a wing in order to maintain steady airflow over the control surfaces at the rear of the wing.[2]boundary layer, and run in spanwise lines near the thickest part of the wing.[1] They can be seen on the wings and vertical tails of many airliners. Vortex generators are positioned in such a way that they have an angle of attack with respect to the local airflow.[1] They are typically rectangular or triangular, about 80% as tall as the boundary layer, and run in spanwise lines near the thickest part of the wing.[1] They can be seen on the wings and vertical tails of many airliners. Vortex generators are positioned in such a way that they have an angle of attack with respect to the local airflow.[1]
A vortex generator creates a tip vortex which draws energetic, rapidly-moving air from outside the slow-moving boundary layer into contact with the aircraft skin. The boundary layer normally thickens as it moves along the aircraft surface, reducing the effectiveness of trailing-edge control surfaces; vortex generators can be used to remedy this problem, among others, by "re-energizing the boundary layer".[1][2]
The use of VGs on FAR Part 103 ultralight aircraft has been debated at least a little; I've decided to get into the debate by actually giving them a try on our Dragon Superlite. A couple of days ago, I temporarily attached a set of VGs to the Superlite and then flew the plane. Here's what they look like:
How did they work out? I don't really know. The wind was gusty aloft, so it was difficult to check out stall speed, landing characteristics, and I've reached no conclusions so far. But I've decided to leave them on the Superlite as it heads to Oshkosh. Come on by our North display area and take a look.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS ARTICLE, YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THESE OTHER ARTICLES ON VG's and STALL SPEEDS:
http://jameswiebe.blogspot.com/2010/09/even-more-info-on-stall-speed-vortex.html
http://jameswiebe.blogspot.com/2010/06/belite-coefficient-of-lift-and-stalling.html
Vortex generators are mounted on the top side of wings, and are designed to create small vortices as air passes over the wing.
As a result of these small vortices, vortex generators (Let's call them VGs, OK?) are responsible for doing some pretty amazing things. Concerning VGs, Wikipedia says the following:
"Vortex generators are likely to be found on the external surfaces of vehicles where flow separation is a potential problem because vortex generators delay flow separation. [3] On aircraft they are installed on the front third of a wing in order to maintain steady airflow over the control surfaces at the rear of the wing.[2]boundary layer, and run in spanwise lines near the thickest part of the wing.[1] They can be seen on the wings and vertical tails of many airliners. Vortex generators are positioned in such a way that they have an angle of attack with respect to the local airflow.[1] They are typically rectangular or triangular, about 80% as tall as the boundary layer, and run in spanwise lines near the thickest part of the wing.[1] They can be seen on the wings and vertical tails of many airliners. Vortex generators are positioned in such a way that they have an angle of attack with respect to the local airflow.[1]
A vortex generator creates a tip vortex which draws energetic, rapidly-moving air from outside the slow-moving boundary layer into contact with the aircraft skin. The boundary layer normally thickens as it moves along the aircraft surface, reducing the effectiveness of trailing-edge control surfaces; vortex generators can be used to remedy this problem, among others, by "re-energizing the boundary layer".[1][2]
The use of VGs on FAR Part 103 ultralight aircraft has been debated at least a little; I've decided to get into the debate by actually giving them a try on our Dragon Superlite. A couple of days ago, I temporarily attached a set of VGs to the Superlite and then flew the plane. Here's what they look like:
How did they work out? I don't really know. The wind was gusty aloft, so it was difficult to check out stall speed, landing characteristics, and I've reached no conclusions so far. But I've decided to leave them on the Superlite as it heads to Oshkosh. Come on by our North display area and take a look.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Bunny Hops & Flying POV
I received a call from my daughter earlier today. She's currently a counselor at Camp Quaker Haven and it was the first time I'd heard her voice since she left last week. She's also our 'corporate cinematographer', and has produced almost all of the videos that Belite has posted on Youtube.
"Hey Dad," she said. "Did you know that I posted another Belite video before I left Wichita?"
No, I didn't know that.
It's great having a cinematographer in the family! More video to show people what we are doing.
I had taken quite a bit of video, shot from my Point Of View, while flying the Superlite several weeks ago. It does a great job of showing the world flying by while piloting an agile single seat airplane. You can see it here:
Also, we shot some video of our Trike a few weeks ago. It's just a series of bunny hops, mostly up and down the runway, but it shows the gentle landing characteristics of the Trike.
(A little off topic: I flew both of these planes earlier today, in Kansas strong winds. They handled the wind with no difficulty).
Anyway, here's the video of the Trike doing bunny hops.
The Trike has free castering nosewheel steering. You turn the airplane by applying either left or right heel brake. I'm reminded of when I first flew a Grumman Cheetah back in 1978 or 1979: ground handling works basically the same.
"Hey Dad," she said. "Did you know that I posted another Belite video before I left Wichita?"
No, I didn't know that.
It's great having a cinematographer in the family! More video to show people what we are doing.
I had taken quite a bit of video, shot from my Point Of View, while flying the Superlite several weeks ago. It does a great job of showing the world flying by while piloting an agile single seat airplane. You can see it here:
Also, we shot some video of our Trike a few weeks ago. It's just a series of bunny hops, mostly up and down the runway, but it shows the gentle landing characteristics of the Trike.
(A little off topic: I flew both of these planes earlier today, in Kansas strong winds. They handled the wind with no difficulty).
Anyway, here's the video of the Trike doing bunny hops.
The Trike has free castering nosewheel steering. You turn the airplane by applying either left or right heel brake. I'm reminded of when I first flew a Grumman Cheetah back in 1978 or 1979: ground handling works basically the same.
Monday, May 31, 2010
How to configure a Ready To Fly Superlite 50HP ultralight!
I've created a spreadsheet that allows users to select different options to personalize their Belite 254. Do they want a taildragger, or a trike? Do they want a Superlite, or a really light version? What you may not realize is that these are all really the same airplane. The only thing that varies is the option selection.
The spreadsheet keeps track of option selections, cost, and weight. As a result, you can end up with any type of FAR part 103 ultralight that you want!
Here's our base spreadsheet. Have a look:
The spreadsheet keeps track of option selections, cost, and weight. As a result, you can end up with any type of FAR part 103 ultralight that you want!
Here's our base spreadsheet. Have a look:
Sunday, May 2, 2010
What altitude did James reach in the Superlite???
Today was an extraordinarily beautiful day in Wichita. Light winds; blue sky; puffy cumulus. The airport was buzzing: two helicopters, a tow plane, at least two gliders, a C182, a Aeronca, and the Belite Superlite Sun N Fun winner.
I wanted to test some instrumentation; buzz a friend's house (with his permission); and test fuel consumption in the Superlite. Also, I wanted to climb a long ways up and see what the world liked like.
All successful. The icing on the cake was throwing a roll of toilet paper at my friend Kevin. (A couple of hours later: somehow it reappeared on my front lawn.)
Even though it was a T-shirt day on the ground, I wore my leather coat in preparation for much colder weather up high. When I got up there, I loitered over the gliderport for a long time. I shot video of KAAO (Jabara airport) off in the distance; and although I did not have a true altimeter with me, the video says it all. Very chilly.!
If the blog video won't open, it is also posted on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/beliteaircraft#p/u/0/peTwoxkIxg0
How high was I?? I'd appreciate your guess.... The Jabara runway is 6101 feet long!
Please place a guess in the comments. Thanks!!
I wanted to test some instrumentation; buzz a friend's house (with his permission); and test fuel consumption in the Superlite. Also, I wanted to climb a long ways up and see what the world liked like.
All successful. The icing on the cake was throwing a roll of toilet paper at my friend Kevin. (A couple of hours later: somehow it reappeared on my front lawn.)
Even though it was a T-shirt day on the ground, I wore my leather coat in preparation for much colder weather up high. When I got up there, I loitered over the gliderport for a long time. I shot video of KAAO (Jabara airport) off in the distance; and although I did not have a true altimeter with me, the video says it all. Very chilly.!
If the blog video won't open, it is also posted on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/beliteaircraft#p/u/0/peTwoxkIxg0
How high was I?? I'd appreciate your guess.... The Jabara runway is 6101 feet long!
Please place a guess in the comments. Thanks!!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Belite Receives Sun N Fun Grand Champion Ultralight Award
The Belite Superlite, dressed in Belite's new Dragon paint scheme, was given the honor of "Grand Champion Ultralight" at the 2010 Sun N Fun airshow. The picture shows James Wiebe, CEO of Belite Aircraft, receiving the award from Sun N Fun official Leonard Kress. The Superlite's new featherweight panel was noted as being a key feature that caught the judge's eyes.
Sun N Fun is an annual aircraft fly-in and airshow, in its 36th year. Attendance in years past has been about 160,000 people, with 4,500 planes flying into the event. The event is busy with aircraft 'movements', logging 40,000 to 50,000 movements in a typical year.
Pictures of the Superlite may be found here .
More pictures may be found here .
And a very nice takeoff video of the personal flying dragon may be found here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)