Sold the Kitfox Lite, Again

That pesky Kitfox Lite which I had for sale has been sold for a second time.  After the first buyer backed out, another emerged a few days later. 

The new buyer has instructed us to perform some upgrades on it before it is delivered.  Bigger tires, bigger wheels, better spring suspension, different engine.  All fun stuff!

How to make a Carbon Fiber elevator which weighs less than 3 pounds!

I am planning to give a forum at OSHKOSH on how to make a Carbon Fiber elevator.  PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND!  Thanks.

The Carbon Fiber elevator which is depicted here WEIGHS LESS THAN 3 POUNDS!  And it is stronger than steel.

Carbon Fiber offers benefits which make it vastly superior to 4130 chromalloy steel in many applications.  Careful design is required, though, in order to take advantage of Carbon Fiber's incredible strength and stiffness.  Belite's Carbon Fiber elevator upgrade swap is an available upgrade for any Belite (or Kitfox Lite replacement aftermarket) which will provide a lighter part with far higher strength and better aerodynamics.  This part is available in kit form for a price of $350 over the regular elevator.  (You can find it on our kit pricing spreadsheet here as line item #55.  Remember, this is an upgrade price over the steel elevator (which is separately priced at $399.95).  A straight purchase of this Carbon Fiber elevator kit is $399.95 + $350 = $749.95)

Our Carbon Fiber elevator is a direct replacement for the steel part.  It is made from several basic materials:

Carbon Fiber fabric wound tubing (for leading edge / torque spar)
Carbon Fiber extruded tubing (for trailing edge)
Steel horizontal stabilizer connect hardware (qty 2 -- connects to hinge points on horizontal stabilizer)
Central Steel section (connects to hinge point and to elevator push/pull tube)
Carbon Fiber ribs in various laminations from 3 to 6 layers of carbon fiber 3K cloth, over balsa core
3M 2216 industrial epoxy (amazing stuff)
Laminating epoxy
Dacron Fabric

Jumping to the finished part, here is what it looks like:

And here is how to make it:

1)  Ensure Carbon Fiber spar tube is exactly 92 inches long.  Cut with fine tooth saw to length.

2)  Debur, clean and slide the center steel assembly over the spar tube.  Epoxy in place with 2216 glue.

3)  Debur, clean and slide each hinge point over the tube.  Do not epoxy. 

4)  Cut each rib section using a band saw and supplied rib outline.  Cut front circle to match spar tube.  Leave rear portion extra long, excess length will be trimmed.  Carefully cut angle cuts on center ribs; also cut reinforcement segments. 

5)  Cut wingtip ribs and center ribs to exact length. 

6)  Cut trailing edges to length; you may leave them slightly long.

7)  Glue wingtip ribs and center ribs in place to main spar and trailing edges using 2216 glue.  At this point, you have a complete outline of the elevator.  Allow to fully cure (24 hours) before proceeding.  It is helpful to wrap around carbon fiber tube and ribs with masking tape.  This will force glue to exact shape and is easy to pull masking tape off after curing.

8)  It is now easy to continue fitting each rib to exact length requirement.

9)  Glue all ribs in place using 2216 glue.  Glue remaining hinge points in place.  Allow to fully cure (24 hours) before proceeding.

10)  Now all ribs are in place.  Sand excess 2216 off.  DO NOT sand into any Carbon Fiber.

11)  Reinforce all joints using carbon fiber cloth and conventional laminating epoxy.  This is easily done by laying the carbon fiber strip over the edge, with the elevator vertical, and painting on the epoxy.  It is helpful to do the leading edge, allow to cure, then flip the elevator and do the trailing edge.

12)  Trim excess cloth using either a dremel or a sharp razor blade.  If you use a razor blade, it is helpful to do it prior to full cure of the epoxy.

13)  Sand all Carbon Fiber cloth.  Remove every single sharp point.

14)  Cover using Stewart Systems glue and dacron fabric.

Here's the advantages:

a)  thicker profile allows aerodynamic shape
b)  lower weight, of course
c)  stronger
d)  impervious to rusting
e)  It's just plane cool!  Or is it plain cool?!

Here's some more detail pics.  Our kit includes plans and more assembly info.....

Art Belite

Let me know what you think of Art Belite:

Belite Kit Pricing

We've posted a Belite Kit Pricing spreadsheet online for our FAR Part 103 ultralights, click HERE to see it.  This spreadsheet lets you manipulate any or all of the options to make the kit exactly the way you want it.

You'll notice that all the base kit items are detailed out, and you'll see the pricing value of each line item.  Have a look, and if you're interested in a kit or have any question, send us an email or give us a call.

Line items 1 through 34 are standard in the base kit, while line items 35 through 60 are options.

If you are interested in our Ready To Fly (RTF) aircraft pricing, that post may be found here.

Moonlight is bright; sunlight is perfect

 (c) 2010 James Wiebe.  Reproduction not allowed without written permission of  the author.

1.  Moonglow

I am standing outside the tent.   I can hear the Middle Fork of the Salmon river flowing not more than 30 feet from where our tent is pitched.  I can feel the stillness of the air.  The temperature is perfect -- cool, not cold, not warm, not uncomfortable.  Cool.  Just cool.  It is exactly as it should be in the night.

The temperature is perfect, the night air is perfect, the sound of the river is perfect, yet there is something creating more majesty than any of these minor senses.

Belite Landing & Levitation

A quick photo essay on a landing sequence to a perfect 3 point levitation.  Here's ace pilot Scott Severen, coming in for a landing in Belite's FAR Part 103 Ultralight aircraft: the Superlite.



And here's the Levitation:

How to price a Ready To Fly Belite airplane

One of the challenges of running a small aircraft business (double entendre intended) is explaining our option list to our customer base.  I made a post a few weeks ago where I provided some spreadsheet excerpts explaining some options. 

Now we've made it simpler - we have a online page which allows you to dynamically select any options you want, and see the resulting price and the resulting aircraft weight.

Every single model we sell is basically the same airframe, modified for performance (which is our Superlite, with a 50HP engine) or for tricycle gear, or for light weight, or for better paint jobs.....  Starting from a baseline configuration (which we call a Belite 254), you can click option buttons to see what your ideal airplane weighs and costs.  Create a Trike; create a Superlite, create a Dragon, create whatever kind of FAR Part 103 Ultralight aircraft suits your fancy.

Give it a try, it's fun!

There's also 'preset' buttons at the top of the pricing page which allows you to click one button and see various model configurations show up in the dynamic pricing / weight spreadsheet.

Give it a try and play with it --- just click here and you'll land on the correct page on our website.

Enjoy! 

James

Belite Ultralight Aircraft Stalling Speed

I've run into some interesting discussion out on the social networks discussing or questioning the ability of the Belite ultralight aircraft design to stall at 24 knots.

A quick analysis of the FAR Part 103 rules, as it relates to ultralight aircraft, specifies five critical technical conditions for the acceptance of an aircraft as meeting part 103:

a) Weight, not to exceed 254 pounds, although there are several exemptions.  (Under certain conditions, weight may be as high as 338 pounds, and still meet Part 103.)

b) Stalling speed, not to exceed 24 knots Calibrated Airspeed. 

c) Cruising speed, not to exceed 55 knots calibrated airspeed.  This translates to a True Airspeed of as high as 74 mph (conditions:  10,000 feet; 0 degrees C, 55KCAS) or even higher.

d)  Fuel capacity not to exceed 5 gallons.  Part 103 incorrectly indicates that this is 30 pounds of gas -- which is simply not true.  It can represent up to 33 pounds of gas.  See this link for an explanation.

e)  Single seat operations.  Not much of a technical consideration; this is easy to verify.  If you wanted to get two people in our airplane, each would have to have a butt with a width of 8 inches.

For these FAR Part 103 rules, it is easy to verify a, c, d and e, and thus ensure that your aircraft is a legal ultralight.  (There have also been discussions of why Belite would use a 50HP engine, thus potentially allowing cruise > 55KCAS -- I'll get to that in another post in the near future.)

Moose Creek, Idaho -- An Ideal Camping Spot

(c) 2010 everything on this blog is copyright James Wiebe, including text and photos.  Reproduction without written permission is prohibited.  High resolution images are available -- contact author for further information.

An Ideal Camping Spot has the following characteristics:

pristine, cold rivers which are clear as gin
trout in those rivers
mountains on all sides
deer, maybe elk
just a few campsites
no roads to get there, just trails and a backcountry airstrip
a USFS cabin, with a friendly forest volunteer
perfect temperatures -- 80's in the daytime, 40's or 50's at night
campfire conversations
at nightime, coal black skies, diamonds set in them
also at nightime, an occasional shooting star
just a few airplanes
just a few pilots and campers
friends, family

Moose Creek is such a place

Tonight's Post is in England

I was invited to write a guest post for an English aircraft blog.  So I wrote one up concerning Carbon Fiber usage in our Belite aircraft.  In particular, I covered details of our upcoming carbon fiber stabilizer.  It's a four pound work of carbon fiber art:  strength and stiffness are off the chart.

But if you want to read about this new development from Belite, you have to make the round trip to England.!

Which is easy to do on the internet:  just click here. and you will be on the GolfHotelWhiskey blog, run by Matthew Stibbe.  He's got some good stuff on his blog!

Here is a high res pic of our carbon fiber horizontal stabilizer.  This same photo is on the blog in England, but this one's a little higher resolution.

As you have noticed, this Belite blog is expanding.  Our increased content is drawing readers just like you.  (Thankyou!) 

Thanks for your interest:  enjoy the reading.

-- James