Belite Kit Pricing

We've posted a Belite Kit Pricing spreadsheet online for our FAR Part 103 ultralights, click HERE to see it.  This spreadsheet lets you manipulate any or all of the options to make the kit exactly the way you want it.

You'll notice that all the base kit items are detailed out, and you'll see the pricing value of each line item.  Have a look, and if you're interested in a kit or have any question, send us an email or give us a call.

Line items 1 through 34 are standard in the base kit, while line items 35 through 60 are options.

If you are interested in our Ready To Fly (RTF) aircraft pricing, that post may be found here.

Moonlight is bright; sunlight is perfect

 (c) 2010 James Wiebe.  Reproduction not allowed without written permission of  the author.

1.  Moonglow

I am standing outside the tent.   I can hear the Middle Fork of the Salmon river flowing not more than 30 feet from where our tent is pitched.  I can feel the stillness of the air.  The temperature is perfect -- cool, not cold, not warm, not uncomfortable.  Cool.  Just cool.  It is exactly as it should be in the night.

The temperature is perfect, the night air is perfect, the sound of the river is perfect, yet there is something creating more majesty than any of these minor senses.

Belite Landing & Levitation

A quick photo essay on a landing sequence to a perfect 3 point levitation.  Here's ace pilot Scott Severen, coming in for a landing in Belite's FAR Part 103 Ultralight aircraft: the Superlite.



And here's the Levitation:

How to price a Ready To Fly Belite airplane

One of the challenges of running a small aircraft business (double entendre intended) is explaining our option list to our customer base.  I made a post a few weeks ago where I provided some spreadsheet excerpts explaining some options. 

Now we've made it simpler - we have a online page which allows you to dynamically select any options you want, and see the resulting price and the resulting aircraft weight.

Every single model we sell is basically the same airframe, modified for performance (which is our Superlite, with a 50HP engine) or for tricycle gear, or for light weight, or for better paint jobs.....  Starting from a baseline configuration (which we call a Belite 254), you can click option buttons to see what your ideal airplane weighs and costs.  Create a Trike; create a Superlite, create a Dragon, create whatever kind of FAR Part 103 Ultralight aircraft suits your fancy.

Give it a try, it's fun!

There's also 'preset' buttons at the top of the pricing page which allows you to click one button and see various model configurations show up in the dynamic pricing / weight spreadsheet.

Give it a try and play with it --- just click here and you'll land on the correct page on our website.

Enjoy! 

James

Belite Ultralight Aircraft Stalling Speed

I've run into some interesting discussion out on the social networks discussing or questioning the ability of the Belite ultralight aircraft design to stall at 24 knots.

A quick analysis of the FAR Part 103 rules, as it relates to ultralight aircraft, specifies five critical technical conditions for the acceptance of an aircraft as meeting part 103:

a) Weight, not to exceed 254 pounds, although there are several exemptions.  (Under certain conditions, weight may be as high as 338 pounds, and still meet Part 103.)

b) Stalling speed, not to exceed 24 knots Calibrated Airspeed. 

c) Cruising speed, not to exceed 55 knots calibrated airspeed.  This translates to a True Airspeed of as high as 74 mph (conditions:  10,000 feet; 0 degrees C, 55KCAS) or even higher.

d)  Fuel capacity not to exceed 5 gallons.  Part 103 incorrectly indicates that this is 30 pounds of gas -- which is simply not true.  It can represent up to 33 pounds of gas.  See this link for an explanation.

e)  Single seat operations.  Not much of a technical consideration; this is easy to verify.  If you wanted to get two people in our airplane, each would have to have a butt with a width of 8 inches.

For these FAR Part 103 rules, it is easy to verify a, c, d and e, and thus ensure that your aircraft is a legal ultralight.  (There have also been discussions of why Belite would use a 50HP engine, thus potentially allowing cruise > 55KCAS -- I'll get to that in another post in the near future.)

Moose Creek, Idaho -- An Ideal Camping Spot

(c) 2010 everything on this blog is copyright James Wiebe, including text and photos.  Reproduction without written permission is prohibited.  High resolution images are available -- contact author for further information.

An Ideal Camping Spot has the following characteristics:

pristine, cold rivers which are clear as gin
trout in those rivers
mountains on all sides
deer, maybe elk
just a few campsites
no roads to get there, just trails and a backcountry airstrip
a USFS cabin, with a friendly forest volunteer
perfect temperatures -- 80's in the daytime, 40's or 50's at night
campfire conversations
at nightime, coal black skies, diamonds set in them
also at nightime, an occasional shooting star
just a few airplanes
just a few pilots and campers
friends, family

Moose Creek is such a place

Tonight's Post is in England

I was invited to write a guest post for an English aircraft blog.  So I wrote one up concerning Carbon Fiber usage in our Belite aircraft.  In particular, I covered details of our upcoming carbon fiber stabilizer.  It's a four pound work of carbon fiber art:  strength and stiffness are off the chart.

But if you want to read about this new development from Belite, you have to make the round trip to England.!

Which is easy to do on the internet:  just click here. and you will be on the GolfHotelWhiskey blog, run by Matthew Stibbe.  He's got some good stuff on his blog!

Here is a high res pic of our carbon fiber horizontal stabilizer.  This same photo is on the blog in England, but this one's a little higher resolution.

As you have noticed, this Belite blog is expanding.  Our increased content is drawing readers just like you.  (Thankyou!) 

Thanks for your interest:  enjoy the reading.

-- James

First Flight, Circa 1970; Cessna Aircraft teaches me to fly; more.

A reminder:  this work is (c) 2010 by James Wiebe.  Reproduction is prohibited.  You may link to this blog or this posting.

Chapter 1:  First Flight

I grew up in Hillsboro, KS -- a town of about 3000 people in Marion County, Kansas.

Having lost my father before my fourth birthday, I have treasured experiences which I was given by other male figures in my youthful years.

I attended Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church in Hillsboro.  There was a man there, by the name of Dave Breese.  He was large man -- not necessarily in girth, but certainly in height, and also certainly in stature within that Church.  He was an 'evangelist', a radio speaker, an author, and -- a pilot.  I remember an odd characteristic of Dave Breese:  he attended our Church, but he was not a member.  Odd.  I don't quite know how to explain it.

As it pertains to flying, I do not remember how the invitation was made, but I do know that one Sunday afternoon, probably when I was 12 years old, he offered to give me a ride in his twin engine airplane.  This was an opportunity nearly on the level with Red Ryder BB guns.  An airplane ride.

I am positive that afternoon was a sunny day with bright white cumulus clouds.  A perfect flying day.

I do remember being in the airplane as he started each engine -- and I remember my anxiety that the engines wouldn't start.  But they did.

In those days, the Hillsboro airport was a grass strip.  In later years, it was paved; it suffered a fatal aircraft accident; (hence it's name, Alfred Schroeder field, honoring one of the dead) and I flew often from it.