Proof Testing an aluminum fuselage

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This is my third post today!  I've already posted on CG calculations in a tricycle gear ultralight aircraft (such as our Belite), also on a Chinese ultralight aircraft which was built for less than $400.  Please rummage around my block and look at all the posts.

I made some changes to the aluminum fuselage tricycle gear design, then immediately proof tested them.  I think the results are very impressive.  You can see for yourself in the pictures.  I always enjoy seeing pictures of lightweight structures which hold many times their own weight.

Here are the three tests I made:

1.  Elevator @ 62 mph @ maximum deflection @ 150% of load calculation.  Calculation was made with flat plate area of elevator at coefficient of lift of 1 of the elevator.  According to airfoil theory, this represents maximum force when a flat plate is used as lifting surface.  (This includes many aircraft of many designs, including our 'prewelded steel elevator' option on our Belite ultralight aircraft.)

2.  Rudder @ 62 mph @ maximum deflection @ 150% of load calculation.

3.  Twisting effect of rudder on fuselage, @ 62 mph @ maximum deflection @ 150% of load calculation.

Let's look at the pictures.  First of all, the elevator deflection test:

Elevator force proof test in ultralight aircraft from Belite

The force shown here is in the weaker direction of the fuselage (down, not up.)  What you see here is 110 pounds on the end of the fuselage.  The fuselage is clamped down the bench.  My calculations showed a maximum force of 73 pounds, and so I proof tested at 110 pounds.  There was no permanent deformation of the structure.  The only part of the structure really showing the strain was the diagonal elements immediately below the weights.

Then we tested the rudder force.  This was done by placing the fuselage on the side, and adding weight.  Since the rudder is much smaller than the horizontal stabilizer, the weight is lower.  I calcuated a max force of 48 pounds, so I tested at 75 pounds.  Basically the same setup as the prior test, except the fuselage is on the side.  Here's the proof test:

Proof test of total rudder force on a Belite ultralight aircraft fuselage

And the third test was the most fun:  adding a steel rod to the rudder to demonstrate strength in rudder twisting torque.  My calculation on this showed a max force of less than 25 pounds, at a distance of 16 inches from the fuselage.  So I proof tested at 150%+, 37.5 pounds hung at at the appropriate ARM.

Proof test of rudder twisting on Belite ultralight aircraft with aluminum fuselage

You can see the actual fuselage twisting just slightly.  This wasn't a permanent deformation, just a slight accommodation which disappeared after the force was removed.

The steel bar is bending a lot.  In the actual aircraft, the rudder force is supported by the flying wires which connect the rudder to the elevator (and also the fuselage, of course...)

The purpose of all of this was to show that the strength of the fuselage is adequate, even without fabric covering.  Also, to show an alternate way to create the fuselage out of aluminum for a tricycle gear configuration.

My comments:

1.  The structure clearly had a lot of reserve.  If I wanted to increase strength, it was obvious where to add a couple of aluminum members to avoid Euler's buckling.  (Need to know more?  Go Google Euler, pronounced 'Oiler'.)

2.  I encourage customers and ultralight enthusiasts to understand these kinds of tests.  Maybe even do them on their own airplanes.

3.  The calculations were for flat plate areas of the elevator / rudder, not  the horizontal stabilizer / vertical stabilizer.

4.  Any control surface movements which the pilot initiates from the top of the green airspeed (in the yellow to the red, Vne, from 63MPH to 80MPH) must be proportionally limited by the pilot.  In other words, make slight and smooth control surface movements when you are operating in the yellow arc, just like a real airplane.  Because a Belite ultralight aircraft is a real airplane....

Here's some bonus pictures of the tests:

Looking down the fuselage of an ultralight airplane, with load applied.  There appears to be a huge reserve in the fuselage strength.

That's me!  :-)  I am also building a flaperon at the same time.  And looking distracted.

The joy of torque.

The joy of strength in a structure.

 The entire weight of the aluminum fuselage (including the cabin) in this Belite weighs about 40 pounds.

Chinese Ultralight Aircraft for $395???

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Unbelievable post I found, but itseems to be real.  A mechanic in China built his own ultralight aircraft, with 3 (three!!!) engines, for $395.

Let's keep hope alive in ultralight aircraft!

Here's a pic:

And here's the original post.

You've got to see all the pictures.

Calculating Center of Gravity in a Tricycle Gear Ultralight Aircraft

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A few days ago, I posted information on how to calculate the Center of Gravity in a Belite taildragger ultralight airplane.  Today, I provide an update for tricycle gear aircraft.

You should review my original post, here.  After you review it, consider the following example for a tricycle gear plane.

Note that the nose wheel has a NEGATIVE arm, as it's distance is negative from the firewall.  All other arms are positive.  Remember to weigh the aircraft with an empty fuel tank; add the fuel and the pilot weight as shown in the equations as below.

Center of Gravity, Tricycle gear ultralight aircraft calculations:

DESCRIPTION, WEIGHT (in lbs.), ARM (in inches), MOMENT (lbs x inches)
Front nose wheel, 70, -5, -350.
Main wheels, 180, 49, 8820.
Pilot, 200, 39, 7800.
Fuel, 30, 56.6, 1695.

Total weight is 480.
Total moment is 17965 (-350+8820+7800+1695)

ARM of the aircraft is 17965 / 480 = 37.42"

This aircraft is in the CG range. 

REMEMBER, you must measure the actual ARMs of your ultralight airplane using a plumb bob from the firewall, and the aircraft must be level.  (This may be a little easier to do in a tricycle gear plane, as the plane is mostly level to begin with.)

I hope you find this useful, no matter what kind of aircraft you fly.

What is the world's lightest aircraft?

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I'm asking:  what is the world's lightest airplane?

I'm not asking what is the world's smallest:  that honor may be held by this airplane, the Bumble Bee II.  Read about it on Wikipedia.

The Bumble Bee II is definitely not light, weighing in at 396 pounds.  Any Belite is lighter than that.

But Guinness points to an aircraft called the Wee Bee as the world's lightest.  (I find the name Wee Bee very interesting!)

You can read about it here, and they claim it had an empty weight of 210 pounds.   It looks fairly fatal, because the pilot rides on top, face first.  Any accident is going to be a killer:

The 1949 Popular Science article this photo is taken from is a must read.

And it's a Wee Bee.  Just can't get over that.

A Belite can be built with a weight of 210 pounds.  But Belites are definitely not the lightest planes in the world:  what about the Easy Riser, of John K Moody fame?  It weighed a little more than half what our planes weigh.

And also, what about various Human Powered Aircraft?  These have been around quite awhile. Here's a pic of one, in flight:

Human Powered Gossamer Condor, in flight

So I'm really asking:  what is the world's lightest, gasoline or electric, human carrying airplane with an enclosed cockpit?

Here are the rules:

1)  Must be gasoline or electric.  (Disqualified Human Powered, which weigh less than 100 pounds...)

2)  Must have an enclosed cockpit.  (Disqualifies the WeeBee)

3)  Must be fairly conventional:  wings, engine, tail, or canard.  (Disqualifieds weird stuff, like balloons.)

Brand New Simonini Engine for sale!

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The spring cleaning sale at Belite continues....

At Belite, we officially support a couple of different 2 stroke engines:  Hirth (German) and Compact Radial Engines (Canadian).  Another type of engine that we took a look at a long time ago was Simonini (Italian).   I decided not to support this engine type in the Belite.  I believe they are very popular for some other markets (for instance, Powered Para Gliders...).

So I am offeirng a brand new Simonini engine for sale.  I *think* it is a Simonini Mini 3, which you can read about here.  After I purchased it, we never started it up.  (Simoni makes several different engine models which look similar).

I'm offering it without reserve.  It will be a really great deal for someone.  I see that Simonini is offering this engine at the new price of $4144.

Starting bid is $25.  This engine will be posted for sale on eBay.

Simoni Engine for sale

Simonini Air Filter

Simonini Carburetor

Simononi exhaust manifold

Simonini motor mounts

Simonini Muffler mounts

Simonini Muffler

Simonini redrive

Simonini Muffler mount

Calculating Center of Gravity in a Belite Ultralight Aircraft

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It's easy to calculate the Center of Gravity in a Belite Ultralight Aircraft!

*** NOTE:  This post is for taildraggers.  I have posted an additional blog entry on how to calculate CG in a tricycle gear airplane.  After reading this taildragger post, you can read the additional post on calculations for a tricycle gear plane HERE. ***

1.  Ensure that the aircraft has everything on board that should be in place for finding the empty weight and CG.  Using a level, put a support under the tailwheel and make sure that the plane is level front to back and side to side.  You'll need to lift the tailwheel off the floor by somewhere around 20 inches.  The lower door line may be used as a level line.  Here's what a level Belite looks like:

Belite Ultralight Airplane, Level, Side View

2.  With the aircraft level and all fixed equipment installed, record the scale readings and weights.  The fuel tank should be empty.

Right Wheel = ____________ Pounds
  Left Wheel = ____________ Pounds
     Tailwheel = ____________ Pounds

3.  Verify and recalculate as necessary, the ARMs for each wheel location.  This is done relative to the forward face of the firewall.  You can use a plumb bob from the firewall to mark the location on the ground, then measure back to the middle of the main wheels and the tailwheel.

Typical Main Wheel ARM = 20.6 inches (yours may vary)
Typical Tail Wheel ARM = 162.6 inches (yours may vary)

Measuring ARMS for CG calculation on ultralight aircraft

We also need to know where the pilot is located and the fuel tank.  For our sample airplane, we will assume 36.9 inches for the ARM of the pilot, and 58.6 inches for the ARM of the fuel.  You are encouraged to verify these ARMs as well.

4.  Now let's do some calculations on weights, ARMS, and moments.  We'll add in the pilot weight, and also the weight of some fuel.

Weight, ARM, moment

Right Wheel 124.7 x 20.6 = 2568.8
Left Wheel 124.7 x 20.6 = 2568.8
Pilot 200.0 x 36.9 = 6273.0
Fuel 30.0 x 58.6 = 1758.0
Tailwheel 28.2 x 162.6 = 4585.3

And let's add up the weights and moments:

In this example, the weight adds up to 507.6 pounds (with gross aircraft weight of 550 pounds, so that's good) and the moments add up to 18861.0.

Dividing total moment by total weight, 18861 / 507.6 = 37.16.  This means that the CG is 37.16 inches.  Since our aircraft has a range of 34.5 to 39.1, we are good to fly.

5.  Further exercises.

You'll want to determine CG at a variety of pilot weights (to match your own weight) and fuel conditions.   In our example airplane, the CG is 35.81 at a zero fuel condition, so the CG moves forward as fuel is consumed.

Cowl on twin cylinder ultralight airplane

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This is my third post of the day!.  Earlier today, I've already written and posted about John K Moody, father of ultralights, and also about our upcoming posting of a used 1/2vw engine for sale on eBay.  Scroll down this blog and / or search and you'll find dozens (actually, over 200...) articles about topics of interest to ultralight and experimental aircraft builders.  Also an occasional article about my dealings in the world of computer forensics.

We just finished fitting the cowl on the Turquoise airplane.  Gorgeous.  3 quick pics:

John K Moody: Father of Ultralights

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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 Aircraft

Easy Riser Ultralight Aircraft

Easy Riser Ultralight Aircraft

Easy Riser Ultralight Airplane

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

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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

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

1/2vw engine for sale

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