Working so hard, with something to show for it (a 4 stroke engine too)

I'll be 'twittering' during Sun N Fun.  If you want daily ultralight aircraft info, sign up for my twitter feeds.  I'm jamespwiebe on twitter.

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We've been getting ready for Sun N Fun, and we're excited:  In addition to a ton of new avionics, and a major avionics announcement, we'll have a Belite Trike with a 4 stroke engine installed up front.  Yes, a tricycle gear ultralight aircraft with a reliable, quiet, fuel efficient four stroke!

Here's some photos of the 4 Stroke Belite Trike, taken during a test flight.  I've posted some further comments below the pics.

4 Stroke Ultralight Aircraft

Rolling into a crosswind at takeoff!

The photos were all taken by Gene Stratton, and they look superb.  The airplane (and attention to detail which we put into it) are also superb.  The paint job looks nearly liquid.

Here's some questions and answers:

1)  What kind of engine is it?  It's a two cylinder water cooled 4 stroke. It's from Verner Motors in Czechoslovakia, and it's a JCV 360.  I'll talk more about the engine in a future post, soon.

2)  What type of aircraft is it?  Why, it's a Belite Trike, featuring our new enhanced wingspan (26' 2") and enhanced wing area, thus improving climb and stall speed.  The paint job is Stewart Systems Cub Yellow, and it looks absolutely marvelous.  Please come see it at Sun N Fun!

3)  Is it available as a kit, or assembled, RTF?  Yes, both ways! 

4)  Is it quiet?  YES!

5)  Can it meet ultralight weight?  YES!  You have to build it with our carbon fiber spars and other weight saving options, but it will legally meet weight.

6)  Can it be built at a taildragger?  YES!  In fact, we had our sister aircraft featured on the front cover of Kitplanes in the April 2011 issue.

Here's a closeup of the engine.  You can see the water cooler and the oil cooler is hidden below.  I'll have more photos of the engine installation in a future post.

And yes, it will have a nice cowl on it at Sun N Fun.

See you at Sun N Fun!

White Paint sparkles on Belite Ultralight Aircraft

I needed to take some pics from the airplane today.  The weather cooperated as temperatures hit the high 70's while the strong morning winds quieted down to a comfortable crosswind by mid afternoon.

The reliable Hirth started on the second or third pull, and I was soon airborne, flying in our Superlite Dragon.


Gene had pulled Joe's new plane out of the hangar, and as I passed over the top, I just thought it was one of the nicest views of the top side of a Belite that I'd ever seen.  So I started snapping pics.


Here's a nice one, looking nearly straight down.

Belite Ultralight Aircraft

The pictured aircraft has painted Insignia White using Stewart Systems products.

Belite Makes Significant Investment in CNC and Shop Automation Equipment

We've recently received several new pieces of equipment which we are using to improve our product and enhance our ability to build state of the art ultralight aircraft, such as our FAR Part 103 Belite 254.

We recently installed our new Roland DGA MDA 540 4-axis prototype milling machine.  This incredible machine can take a chunk of just about anything that's solid and convert it into a part.  It loves lexan, plastic, wood, and aluminum.

I happen to be working on many new avionics designs (to be introduced at Sun N Fun) and, as part of that project, I needed to turn a new bezel concept from idea to reality in less than 24 hours.

The new machine performed wonderfully, turning a solid block of Lexan into a bezel.  Here's a photo of the machined Lexan block:

After cutting the part out and painting it, the new bezel design looks like this:

The conversation with the SolidWorks designer started at 9:00am, the new part was out of the machine by 7:00pm.  (The joys of being in a small, nimble company with good design tools and equipment available!)

We've also purchased a ShopBot CNC router for large flat pieces.  New computer equipment and software (EG SolidWorks) complete the company upgrades.  The ShopBot isn't running yet, but will be in the near future.

Comments on Ultralight Aircraft from a Kitplanes reader...

Here are some unfiltered comments on our ultalight aircraft that I received via email earlier today.  This person had read the recent cover article on "Kitplanes" on Belite:

"I hope you are getting some good results from the article. Way back when, I was also on of those guys that looked at ultralights with distain. 

... I still think the KitFox Light was a delightful plane to fly even when compared to many non ultralight planes. 

To say the BeLite is a nice flying for an ultralight does not do it justice. It simply handles like a good airplane should, regardless of the weight. 

The only problem with the BeLite is if someone gets hooked on ultralights because of it, and then tries to fly one of the “lawn chair” type machines, it will scare them to death."

Belite manufactures Part 103 compliant ultralight aircraft.