Floats, Tricycle Gear, Turtledeck, Builder tips

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Something for everyone...

One sneek picture of an amphibious float is somewhere below...

Pics of the Sky Blue plane with a turtledeck on it, builder tips for those builders seeking help, photos of a tricycle gear fuselage under construction, photos of a primed fuselage, carbon fiber spars, all for the ultralight Belite Aircraft.

By the way, my heart goes out to designers of amphibious floats.  Hardest design project, ever.

Carbon fiber spar with jury strut fitting.  Wrapped with carbon fiber rope and epoxied.

Sky Blue Ultralight Belite with turtledeck.

Another view of the sky blue ultralight Belite Aircraft.

Blurry picture of lift strut fitting, with carbon fiber rope and epoxy.

Messy job on the glue, but aluminum doubler (2.75" OD) over carbon fiber spar.  Tripler on inside root.

New design Belite door.  Coolest ultralight aircraft door, ever.

CNC cut frame on inside of door frame.  Note two pins for locking door closed.

We added corner pocket windows to this Belite.  Edge of  polycarbonate door panel is visible.

This side of the plane has a polycarbonate window installed.  Easily removable 'cuz we used Nutserts.

Swing the door up.  Someone really ought to add a gas lift strut.

Door hinge installed on top of door.

Picture of amphibious float.  How'd this photo slip in here?

Really bad photo showing one way to overlap fit trailing edge material together.

Another way to fit trailing edge together.  Works with wood ribs if you use a left and right gusset.

Tricycle gear airplane under construction.

Finishing tail of tricycle gear airplane.

Underside of rear deck, showing structure. 

Gusset detail on tricycle gear airplane. 

More gussets.

This gusset is doubled, as gear hinge will be bolted here.

And here as well.  Doubled.

Another view of the bottom of the rear deck.

View of the front.  Nose gear not yet installed.

Detail of front of fuselage.

Detail of front of fuselage.

Some aluminum primer, some paint.  This bird nearly ready to cover.

Retractable Gear Assembly for Amphibious Ultralight Float

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We are in the middle of a blizzard here in Wichita, KS.  So we all left work early, and I brought home a prototype wheel assembly for our ultralight amphibious float.  It needs a slight bit of tuneup, but I figured you'd like to see the engineering work in process.

Main retractable landing gear for ultralight amphibious float.

Front view of retractable gear assembly.

View of reverse side of retractable landing gear.

The wheel used is a 5"; the brake assembly is an Avid BB5.  Assembly is not complete.  Weight of the entire subassembly will be about 7.5 pounds per assembly.

Amphibious Ultralight Floats, more pics

Please note: James' blog has moved to a Wordpress site. To access it, please visit http://jameswiebe.wordpress.com/. All posts have been transferred to the new site, and all new posts will only be accessible via Wordpress. Thank you for your interest!

More info on our amphib floats:

We use a special rivet which is designed to be leak resistant.  It looks like this:

Special float rivet.  Solid head when pulled.  No hole.

Float without top skin, viewed from rear.

Float without top skin, viewed from front.

Here's the front bottom skin, with rivets and small step guide.

Front bottom skin of Belite amphibious float.

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Rear bottom skin of Belite amphibious float.

Yes, that is a carbon fiber / aluminum wing in the background under assembly.  Here is the partially completed wheel well in the amphibious ultralight float.  A carrythough bracket is visible in the bottom of the wheel well.

Wheel well in Belite amphibious float.

Weight is still tracking for 28 pounds per float in straight (no wheel) configuration.

Floats!!! Amphibious Floats!!!

Please note: James' blog has moved to a Wordpress site. To access it, please visit http://jameswiebe.wordpress.com/. All posts have been transferred to the new site, and all new posts will only be accessible via Wordpress. Thank you for your interest!


Here's the first photos of our upcoming float offering for ultralight aircraft.

Constructed entirely of aluminum, these floats are designed to work with retractable wheels or as straight floats.

In other words, we're preparing to deliver an amphibious float, and therefore, an amphibious ultralight.  So cool.

The straight version will weigh less than 28 pounds.  (The FAA allows 30 pounds per float in FAR Part 103.)

It will be fun to announce the pricing, and also the full specs.  Here's the photos (the float is upside down...):

Wheel well takes shape.

Front skin is quite riveting.

Some parts still clecoed on.

Computer CNC machining makes for exacting fits.

Strength, lightweight, beauty.  And 7000 series aluminum alloys in critical places.

Easy building for folks who want to do it themselves.

Some of the bulkheads are sold.  Some aren't.

Before the skin goes on.