Aluminum skin for Aluminum Ultralight Aircraft

The CNC cut aluminum skin for the top of the rear fuselage of our aluminum ultralight aircraft was ready to install today.  The entire weight of the top skin is less than 1.5 pounds!

It didn't take long, and it was clecoed in place.  It still needs quite a bit of work, but it is sure fun to look at.

The front compartment is for the fuel tank and baggage, and has a square cutout with radiused corners.  The rear sections are cut out with ellipses to save weight.

Enjoy the picture of work in progress:  (Sharp eyes may notice other interesting things in the room...)

Ultralight Aircraft for disabled pilot

A Belite customer challenged us to improve cockpit access for our Belite ultralight aircraft; the customer has some challenges; especially with his legs.  Getting in and out of our aircraft is a real challenge.

As a result, we were pleased to improve cockpit access by lowering the fuselage right side door height.  We cut off the existing steel tube and welded a tube about 5 inches lower; with additional length on the tube to add strength.

Here's a photo:  compare the near and far sides of the fuselage to see the difference in the steel structure.  You can see that the nearer side has a lower entry level. 

Aluminum Plane: Real Flight Data Graph

One of the joys of this project is the performance of the product:  the aluminum plane rocks.

Here is a "GPS Essentials" flight data chart from a recent flight in Aluminum Plane #1:

Belite Ultralight Aircraft Performance Graph

I marked two locations with yellow dots.  The difference between these dots in time is about 3 minutes, and the altitude gain is (2070-1500) = 570 feet.  This is a calculated climb rate of 225 feet per minute.  With a forward airspeed of about 43 mph in the climb, the actual climb angle was about 5 degrees, and the deck angle was probably around 12 degrees.  Climb rate was NOT maximum.  (although it was probably close).  I weigh 200 pounds, plus some gas on board of course, and density altitude was about 3300 feet at ground elevation.

All this with a tiny 28hp engine.

You can also see some two pass runs, demonstrating cruise speed.  With the wind, ground speed averaged about 64mph and into the wind, ground speed was 47mph.  The average is 55.5 mph, once again, with a 28hp Hirth F33 engine.

Fun, fun, fun!

- James