Standard Pilot Blog

Thursday, April 5, 2012

John K Moody: Father of Ultralights

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!

One of the most enjoyable experiences at Sun N Fun 2012 was sharing some time with John K Moody, "the Father of Ultralights".

We talked for a while about all kinds of things: what day he made his first powered flight; how an article in Popular Science propelled him to fame; how he started to sell them; how he made money in ultralights; how the old 20/20 news piece destroyed (unfairly) the ultralight industry... Now he is pleased to attend Sun N Fun and exhibit a trio of old ultralights, including an "Easy Riser". It weighs only 120 pounds and flies beautifully on a Hirth engine of around 13 horsepower.

The Easy Riser used weight shift for pitch (climb/descend) control, and had a 'rudder' on each wingtip, controlled by a twist handle for each wrist. The throttle for this bird had a mouth (YES, mouth!) mounted kill switch. So if you wanted to kill the engine, just bite down. John says he got shocked by this arrangement.

I took a bunch of photos of this amazing early ultralight. Later in the day, John came by our booth and looked at a Belite ultralight aircraft. Here's photos of the ultralight aircraft 'Easy Riser', built by John K Moody:

Easy Riser Ultralight Aircraft

Easy Riser Ultralight Airplane

John K Moody, Father of Ultralights, with James Wiebe

Easy Riser Ultralight Airplane

Gross and Ugly Half VW Engine on eBay, NO RESERVE

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!

Hi!

ebay listing for this item is HERE.

If that doesn't work, here is the link spelled out:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2-VW-engine-/300692097512?pt=Motors_Aviation_Parts_Gear&hash=item4602a549e8&vxp=mtr

I have five or six engine projects hanging around the shop which I have no interest in pursuing. I also have a bunch of airplane 'junk' which I think will be quite valuable to the right people. SO, it's time for some spring cleaning at Belite. Over the next four weeks, I will be offering all of the engines and 'junk' on eBay. Every auction will be without reserve!

Each auction will have individual terms and conditions. Read each auction carefully. If you are not interested, please pass the info on to your EAA chapter or friends.

For this first auction, I am offering a slightly used half VW engine which I purchased nearly 3 years ago. This engine is not appropriate for use on a Belite, because it only develops around 20 horsepower (?). But it is a good engine for someone. It is loaded with goodies and parts. I was told it had 20 or 30 hours on it. It is painted the most ugly shade of green I've ever seen. It looks like Volkswagen got in an argument with John Deere, and very bad things happened (to the paint, not the engine).

1/2 VW engine for sale

The bore and stroke is 69 x 84mm. It is a Type I engine.

One of my employees is a VW engine expert, and he tore it down and rebuilt it. We've never started it, but it clearly will run. Everything on the insides looked fine. He mentioned one of the pushrod tubes needed to be replaced, I'll find out what he was talking about and post it on the eBay listing.

More info on the engine:

a. Mikuni carbs
b. VW/GM HEI (ignition)
c. 1/2VW case
d. .050 over (crank bearing)
e. 1/2VW heads
f. 1992 Sentra ring gear, 11" diameter, 104 tooth
g. Subaru starter
h. Nippon-Denso alternator
i. machined prop hub
k. foam air filters are NOT INCLUDED - we stole them for another project

1. We will charge a $50 for crating. This is on top of the winning bid, unless you pick it up.

2. If you pick it up (or if you live in Kansas), we MUST CHARGE Kansas sales tax.

3. Shipping will be by quote via your requested carrier. Do not assume anything. Get a quote from Kathy before you win the auction.

4. Crated weight is 170 pounds.

5. You MUST, MUST, MUST pay for your winning bid within 24 hours of auction close. As this is without reserve, if you do not pay, we WILL, WILL, WILL, contact the next bidder and inform them that they have won the auction. No excuses.

6. The ONLY accepted payment method is PAYPAL. If you do not have a PAYPAL account, you may not bid.

7. This engine is offered AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY or REPRESENTATION OF USE of any kind.

8. We expect the eBay auction will go live sometime on Friday, April 6 at the latest. I will add the link back here when that happens.

9. The bidding starts at $25. :-) Including crating, that would be $75.

10. We reserve the right to reject any bid or bidder.

11. Good luck bidding! May the odds be ever in your favor!

1/2vw engine for sale

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Belite Ultralight Aircraft For Sale

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!

This aluminum ultralight airplane is available for April delivery from Belite. It has been finished with a gorgeous cub yellow paint job. There is no finer ultralight aircraft made by anyone!

Taildragger Ultralight Airplane from Belite, in Cub Yellow, for sale

It still needs three days assembly work for us to finish it. It also is ready to accept any engine, and is a legal ultralight under FAR Part 103. It is offered with a Belite Electronics panel, with AGL, ASI, EGT/CHT, and Inclinometer.

I checked weight on it yesterday, and what you see weighs 165 pounds. It will take about 20 pounds of material to finish it (not counting engine/mount/prop). So any engine / prop combination of around 69 pounds or less will work. (For this plane to be ready to fly, we need to install the interior control cables, gas tank, windshield, flying wires on the tail feathers, etc...)

This means the F33 28HP engine will work great (just like our WoW plane or the MythBusters plane). With the F33, we would have plenty of weight allowance to put a top cowl on the rear fuselage, and make it look quite 'cub-like'. Just a thought...

With the Hirth F33 engine, this aircraft is offered at $25,900.

Here is the 'as-configured' info

Base aircraft with aluminum fuselage ... $16,500
Metal priming ... $1,000
Disc brakes ... $700
Spring gear ... $400
Lightweight Lift Strut (2024T3) ... $400
Complete fabric and paint ... $6,900
Total .... $25,900 FAF Wichita

(Electric Start / Battery / Cowling are included)

Front view of Belite Ultralight Airplane for sale

Straight on front view of Belite Ultralight Aircraft for sale


Quartering view of Belite Ultralight Airplane for sales

End view of Belite Ultralight airplane for sale

View of wing and flaperon on Belite Ultralight Aircraft for sale

Tail Feathers on Belite Ultralight Airplane for sale

Underside of Belite Ultralight Aircraft for sale, note disc brakes and spring gear

Cabin interior, note metal priming, on Belite Ultralight Aircraft for sale

This airplane would also be phenomenal with the MZ-201 45HP engine ($2900 swap), but you would also probably need to add a ballistic parachute ($3300) to make legal weight.

Call or email us with your questions. (316) 253-6746 or info@beliteaircraft.com

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Incredible paint job on new Belite

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!

I've just loaded about 30 hi res pics to Flickr of a new customer airplane. You can see them on our Flickr channel, here.

This is such a nice plane!


Turqoise Belite Ultralight Airplane

It was built with nearly every option -- from a nice instrument panel to a big 50HP Hirth. It has carbon fiber spars, an aerodynamic tail, a rescue chute, and much more.

It meets Part 103, weighing in at 275.4 pounds. (Limit is 278.)

Here's a front on view, showing off the engine:


Front view of Belite Ultralight Airplane, with 50HP Hirth

And here's how Belite Electronics look, in the panel.


Instrument panel in Belite ultralight airplane

This plane even has strobes and position lights:

Strobe and Nav lights on Belite ultralight airplane

The interior pilot seat looks very sharp. We haven't yet put the carpet on the floor, but that's coming too.

Interior of Belite ultralight airplane

There are many, many more photos showing all kinds of details of this airplane on Flickr. Have a look. Let me know what you think.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

How to attach a rear fuselage to a cabin on an ultralight airplane

I occasionally publish portions of the Belite assembly manual, which will help you build your very own ultralight airplane. Here we go with another installment:

Mating the Rear Fuselage to the pre-welded Aluminum cabin

In this section, you are going to mate your rear riveted aluminum fuselage to the cabin. This is done by leveling both sections very carefully, trimming the length of the aluminum longerons on the rear, and then riveting on gussets.

This isn’t too tough to do, let’s get going!

1. Level the cabin and the rear fuselage. Using blocks and a level, ensure that the top of the cabin is level. Although only one level is used in the photo, make sure it is also level side to side.

Figure 1 -- Level the cabin

You’ll notice the small stubs pointing backwards on the photo above, along the bottom of the fuselage. Current production cabins no longer have the stubs.

Figure 2 -- Level the rear fuselage

2. Trim the longerons on the rear fuselage.

All four of the rear fuselage longerons are trimmed butt flush to the cabin. Also, the top skin will need some trimming to make it fit.

Click HERE to read remainder of this article »

Belite -- Reserve Grand Champion Ultralight at Sun N Fun 2012

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!

YES, we did win the Reserve Grand Champion ultralight aircraft award at Sun N Fun 2012.

3rd year in a row with a major award for Belite.

Thanks to Mike R. for doing the vast majority of the work and providing zillions of great ideas on this award winning airplane.!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Really Cool WoW Plane Photos

Blue Skies, Belite Ultralight Airplane

Severe Climb Angle? with Belite Ultralight Airplane

Click HERE to read remainder of this article »

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Weight of WoW ultralight airplane


Belite Ultralight Aircraft climbing out at Sun N Fun, Day 2

From the start of the takeoff, I could get to 300' altitude before the water tower turn. With a 28HP engine. Lots of people watching... WoW.

Here's the estimated weight breakdown on the WoW plane:

1	Basic Airplane.	224.5
2	Carbon Fiber spar upgrade saves weight.	-9.0
3	Metal Priming	0.9
4	Light Steel fuselage swap	-3.5
5	Steel spring gear upgrade	2.2
6	Add electric start, wiring system, battery, battery box to base engine	6.5
7	Swap in Full Belite Instrumentation	0.0
8	Install Fuel Sender in fuel tank, wiring	0.6
9	550 pound Air Rocket Parachute - installed	17.0
10	Lightweight Lift Strut Swap - 2024 T3	-3.5
11	Upgraded Aluminum Fuel Tank	2.2
12	Complete Fuselage Fabric & Complete Paint	9.0

	Subtotal	246.9

	Other Options

1	Tip Lights	2.2
2	Spinner	0.8
3	Streamlined Lift Struts	6.0
4	Built Panel Bulkhead	2.2
5	Rear Fuselage Treatment	2.2
6	Heavy Elevator	3.0
7	Adjustable Elevator Trim	1.7
8	Adjustable Rudder Trim	0.6
9	Dots	2.0
10	Hydraulic Tip Brakes	2.0
11	Hoerner Tips	3.5

	Total	273.1

I am so impressed with what this airplane's advancements has done for our aerodynamic performance. WoW!

Belite ultralight airplane in cruise flight at Sun N Fun 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I flew the WoW plane today

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 from Sun N Fun, 2012. Gene took lots of great photos of the WoW plane from Belite while I was flying it today. Very nice photos, all posted on Flickr.

Here's some of the really good pics:


Belite ultralight airplane rotating into climb

On Short Final, officials watching

Flarint to a nice landing

Rolling Out

Here's some photos of the details on the plane:


Hydraulic Toe Brakes

Instrument Panel in Belite aircraft

News conference in the morning.... More tomorrow.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Fact Sheet on the WOW ultralight aircraft

Ultralight Aircraft, WOW style, from Belite

High Res Photos of the WoW plane on our Flickr site.

Fact Sheet on the WoW ultralight airplane from Belite – in no particular order:

NAME. We call it the WoW plane because of the amazing paint scheme and the amazing combination of features it has.
AMAZING PAINT SCHEME. The aircraft is painted in Insignia White from Stewart Systems, with multi-colored dots of various sizes floating off the airframe. I came up with the idea of floating dots. If you think it looks like a bread wrapper, well… hmm.
BASE AIRCRAFT KIT. This ultralight aircraft is an example of many different ideas, all built into one Belite Aircraft. Any skilled aircraft builder could make this airplane, starting with our base kit.
KIT PRICE. Our base kit is priced at $7000, including a discount of $2000 at Sun N Fun, after show discount. That includes just about everything required to build an ultralight airplane, firewall back. (Regular price, non-show, $9000.)
CARBON FIBER SPARS. This ultralight aircraft has carbon fiber spars. They are a $2200 option. They save about 9 pounds and add considerable strength.
HYDRAULIC BRAKES. The aircraft has been fitted with hydraulic tip brakes. From Grove Aircraft. The tip brake design is ‘one-off’ (not documented in our build manual), but builders are encouraged to innovate and copy what we have done.

Hydraulic Toe Brake in Belite Ultralight Aircraft

COWLING. The cowl is constructed from fiberglass, and is optional in our kits. The plane flies fine without a cowl. It also flies fine with a cowl. The cowl weighs less than 3 pounds. We do not include it in our flying weight, because it is removable for flight. (BTW, the pictures don't show the cowl attached. We just got it fitted on today, and we'll have more pictures tomorrow.)
AIRCRAFT WEIGHT. The plane weighs about 275 pounds, including parachute. The legal maximum weight for an ultralight aircraft with parachute is 278 pounds.
ENGINE. The engine on this plane is a Hirth F33, producing 28HP. It weighs about 47 pounds, including the muffler. It uses premix oil/fuel, at a 90 to 1 ratio.
PROPELLER. The propeller is a 58 x 22 wooden propeller from Tennessee Propellers. It is very lightweight and sturdy.
FUSELAGE. The fuselage is constructed from our 4130 chromaloy steel. However, this same airplane could have been constructed from our aluminum fuselage option.
MORE ON THE FUSELAGE SHAPE. The rear fuselage and the bottom fuselage was ‘built up’ with a series of angle aluminum longerons to add cross section shape, then covered with fabric. You can see the internal aluminum structure by looking inside the fuselage, from the cockpit. This helps make the airplane look like any other ‘real’ airplane.

WoW Ultralight Aircraft from Belite, viewed from underneath. Note wingtip detail (Hoerner style), note nav lights; also note underneath fuselage shape detail and elevator trim tab detail.

STRUT FAIRINGS. Notice that the struts are faired, providing a streamlined strut structure. Very nice.
LANDING GEAR ‘A’ ARMS. These are also faired and covered with fabric. So is the cross bar, under the fuselage, connecting the landing gear together.
SPRING LANDING GEAR. The main landing gear use steel springs, replacing bungees. They make hard landings soft and also make taxiing a lot more comfortable.
INSTRUMENT PANEL. The panel is made from ultralight weight Belite Electronics instruments and and the entire panel runs off of a single 9 volt battery. Battery life is about 8 hours. Current usage for the entire panel is about 55 milli-amps. The panel could also run off any power source (including ship power) between 9 and 14 volts. If you look at the plane, you can see the battery velcroed behind the panel. The panel is completely removable by removing the wing nuts on the four corners. The missing instrument is the airspeed indicator --- oops! Sorry! I frequently fly without instruments so it’s not a big deal to me. The entire panel weighs about 12 ounces. We do not include it in aircraft weight because it is removable and not required for flight. I cut the panel aluminum on our ShopBot. We can make nice panels in just a few minutes, from CAD on the computer to finished product. Very cool. Here's a pic of a similar panel, on display:

Instruments from Belite Electronics, for experimental and ultralight usage

PANEL STRUCTURE. In the WoW airplane, notice that the instrument panel is connected to a classic aluminum structure, built from bent aluminum sheet metal and faired around the cross bracing under the windshield. Very nicely done.
WING DESIGN. All of Belite’s aircraft utilize an expanded span and chord (25’ 2” span; 40” chord). As a result, Belite’s wing produces more lift at slow speeds, which makes it ideal for ultralight operation. (But the wing in the WoW plane has even greater span, due to the Hoerner wingtips… see below.)
FLAPERON DESIGN. All of Belite’s aircraft utilize an expanded flaperon, with a 12” chord.
HOERNER WINGTIPS. This aircraft was built with a one-off Hoerner wingtip design. This increases span and reduces tip vortices in flight, causing better lift and reduced drag. In other words, better performance low & slow. A while back, I wrote a nice explanatory post on Hoerner wingtips.

Hoerner Wingtip on Belite Ultralight Airplane

HORIZONTAL STABILIZER / ELEVATOR. These control surfaces are built with an aerodynamic cross-section. This gives better control and smoother flight characteristics, due to drag reduction. The stabilizer has a 2024 T3 spar; the elevator spar is built from Chromalloy steel.
RUDDER TAB. Note the ground adjustable rudder tab. Very nicely done. This is another ‘one-off’ feature which I would encourage our customers to copy.
ELEVATOR TAB. Note the inflight adjustable manual elevator tab. The control lever is to the left of the pilot’s sight. It runs to the rear of the airplane using a single Bowden cable.
FLAPERON CABLES. The flaperon cables are very low friction. In flight, the aircraft feels like the control surfaces are on ball bearings.
TAIL WHEEL SPRING. Constructed from spring steel, we have them made for us by a local spring vendor.
POSITION / NAVIGATION LIGHTS. We’ve equipped this ultralight airplane with position lights. This allows ultralight flight for 30 minutes after sunset.
‘Y’ CNC MACHINED LIFT STRUT FITTINGS. There are several machined parts which we make at Belite, on this airplane; the strut lift fittings at the base of the fuselage are a great example. They are hogged out of solid aluminum.
LIFT STRUTS. The lift struts are constructed from 2024T3 aluminum, 1.00 x 0.035 wall, on this airplane. This is a builder option. It is lighter than 6061T6 aluminum. (The lift struts are covered with the plastic extruded fairings.)
FOR SALE? Hmm. Good question. This was built to be our demonstrator and also to be James’ personal ultralight airplane.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wow Plane

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!

It's time for Sun N Fun.

We had very little fun preparing for Sun N Fun -- it was Rain N Pain in Wichita for four days, and our field was flooded. The gang was working nearly non stop, working on preparing 3 planes. One was a customer delivery, and it had highest priority. Another was a show plane, which we did not finish in time. The third was a technology demonstrator, which we call the Wow Plane and it also would be going to Sun N Fun. Mike had been working hard on the Wow Plane for several months, and the rest of our gang was working on finishing it up.

The rain ended Thursday night, and a walk of the flight field on Friday morning showed a diagonal path across the runway which avoided puddles and headed into the wind. We had to fly the Wow plane!

So we rolled out the Wow Plane. Around 4 in the afternoon, it took to the air for the first time.

Wow.

Wow!

Phenomonal crisp climb with only 28HP. Flight controls as if they were on ball bearing rails. Lots more.

And you'll find out lots more, soon, in a news release from Belite Aircraft.

The Wow ultralight airplane from Belite aircraft

You can see more pictures of this cool plane immediately on Belite's flickr account.