Daily Archives: July 13, 2009

Belite ultralight completes first flight

July 13, 20093:16 p.m.

belite-jabara-on-downwindWhile we were all celebrating Independence Day on July 4, James Wiebe was climbing in his Belite ultralight at Col. James Jabara Airport to take the plane on its first flight.

“I was so thrilled to take off in the plane I had designed major elements of,” Wiebe said.

That’s the plane near the airport in the courtesy photo.

Wiebe and his wife, Kathy, bought the tooling, parts and manufacturing rights of the Kitfox Lite ultralight in March. Since then, Wiebe has been making design changes to the plane.

“It was just a delight,” Wiebe said of the first flight.

Wiebe wants to deliver two or three ultralights a month and grow from three employees today to 25 or so in the next year.

The market for the Belite is varied, he said.

Men of retirement age or older will be interested in the ultralight as will farmers and ranchers who can fly to their far pasture in a handful of minutes. The ultralight will also be suited for the military, Wiebe said. With some changes, it could become the world’s largest radio-controlled airplane.

The Belite is available finished or as a kit. The total build time of a kit is about 200 hours, not counting putting the fabric on the aircraft, Wiebe said.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under aircraft manufacturers | Comments Off

Which airlines are more likely to let you off the plane when a flight’s diverted?

July 13, 200910:57 a.m.

If you’re worried that you won’t be able to get off the airplane when a flight is diverted, a new analysis of Department of Transportation data showed which airlines have the best record.

FlyersRights.org, a passenger rights coalition, analyzed DOT data on diverted airline flights — flights that make unscheduled stops before they reach their final destinations. Typically they’re diverted because of weather, an in-flight emergency or to refuel.

According to the organization, American Airlines, American Eagle, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines collectively allowed passengers to deplane at the diverted airport 66 percent of the time. By contrast, the other 15 U.S. airlines gave passengers the option to deplane 99 percent of the time.

American, American Eagle, United and Delta were responsible for 1,150 of the 1,181 instances in which passengers weren’t allowed to get off the plane at a diverted airport, the group said.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under airlines | Comments (2)