Fri, Jan 27, 2017
“I Think That The Future Of Experimental Aircraft Will Feature CAD Technologies”
Belite Aircraft has been around for some time providing factory-built and kit-built single-place aircraft. Now they have introduced a new kit-built two-place airplane at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida that is being held this week.
Building on their experience of using innovative, low weight and quicker build technologies in the Ultralight marketplace, Belite says they are continuing the use of these technologies in their first two-place experimental aircraft design.
“I wanted to take my wife flying in a Belite aircraft,” explains James Wiebe, the CEO of Belite, “and implement my years of learning about what it takes to make a light plane quick to build, strong and affordable for the owner. I set my sights on developing an aircraft that comes with a high level of accuracy in parts production, and good repeatability in the build process. The more I aimed for, the more I realized that my many years of building planes had given me the perfect pipper to set my sights with… so the plane was called the Pipper*!” (Pipper is defined as the center or bead of a ring gunsight.)
This aircraft had the following design goals:
- Conventional aerodynamic design
- Side by side seating
- Designed from a clean sheet in CAD and state of the art build technologies
- Very quick build time with highly accurate parts and high strength modern materials
- Classic look and fun to fly
- Good short field performance
- Rugged landing gear
- Taildragger or tricycle gear configuration
- Primary structure of aluminum with lightweight honeycomb
- 380 pound empty weight (with 2 stroke engine and normal instrumentation)
- 430 pound empty weight (with 4 stroke engine)
- 850 pound gross weight
- Up to 65HP engine
With the exception of engine, FWF, instruments and fuel tanks (fuel tank choices are optional), everything is included in the airframe kit + completion kit; and the builder gets to pick tailwheel or tricycle gear. The airplane can be purchased as a complete kit or in various independent subassemblies. Complete information about pricing and engine choices are available on the company website through the link provided below.
"I think that the future of experimental aircraft will feature CAD technologies and production technologies which did not exist until recently," Wiebe said. "Production techniques which are labor intensive add cost and time to aircraft projects. Our vision was to provide a complete kit which can easily be built by an individual in their garage, without special tools, and with state of the art strength and build methodologies."
The first flight is scheduled for March of this year.
(Original source and image from Belite press release)
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