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

"This Belite Be No More"

And this is a very sad story, with one fantastic testimony to the crash worthiness of our airplane.

The 80+ year old pilot was observed to take off in the Belite Superlite, barely gaining enough altitude to clear a fence.  Apparently, the pilot did not command the airplane to turn in any direction, climb, or descend back to the ground, which was just a few feet below him.  Nor did he retard the throttle, which was reported at 'full' by an observer.  (The Superlite is capable of climbing out at fairly steep angles.)

After continuing in this manner for a handful of seconds, he crashed into the side of a distant steel building, still under full power, still just a few feet above the ground.  I have not seen the accident in person, but I do have one photograph.  It seems to show a very hard impact of the left wing tip, then impact of the main structure of the fuselage.  The wing ribs and spars are carbon fiber, and the fuselage is chromaloy steel -- all very tough stuff.

The pilot was wearing his seat belt / shoulder harness, and escaped the accident with broken ribs.  The cabin structure of the Belite, along with the safety harness, probably saved his life.

The metal gas can did not rupture.  (It is optional equipment.)  The parachute did deploy at impact (probably due to stretching of the release cable in the accident.)

We are very saddened by this accident and wish the pilot a speedy and full recovery.

Belite Ultralight Aircraft Accident