Mountaineer Trikes Mite-Lite

Last updated
Mite-Lite
Role Ultralight trike
National origin United States
Manufacturer Mountaineer Trikes
Status Production completed, company out of business 1998

The Mountaineer Trikes Mite-Lite is a family of American flying wing ultralight trikes that was designed and produced by Mountaineer Trikes. The aircraft were supplied as a kit for amateur construction. [1]

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Flying wing tailless fixed-wing aircraft with no definite fuselage

A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage. The crew, payload, fuel, and equipment are typically housed inside the main wing structure, although a flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blisters, booms, or vertical stabilizers.

Ultralight trike powered hang glider with a Rogallo wing and a three-wheeled undercarriage

An ultralight trike is a type of powered hang glider where flight control is by weight-shift. These aircraft have a fabric flex-wing from which is suspended a tricycle fuselage pod driven by a pusher propeller. The pod accommodates either a solo pilot, or a pilot and a single passenger. Trikes grant affordable, accessible and exciting flying, and have been popular since the 1980s.

Contents

Design and development

The Mite-Lite was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of 254 lb (115 kg). The Mite-Lite has a standard empty weight of 200 lb (91 kg). It features a cable-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a single-seat, open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration. [1]

Tricycle landing gear aircraft undercarriage arranged with main gear under the wing or fuselage and a third set under the nose

Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or landing gear, arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle gear aircraft are the easiest to take-off, land and taxi, and consequently the configuration is the most widely used on aircraft.

Pusher configuration arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face rearward

In a vehicle with a pusher configuration, the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). According to British aviation author Bill Gunston, a "pusher propeller" is one mounted behind the engine, so that the drive shaft is in compression.

The Mite-Lite is very minimalist lightweight trike, made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its single surface wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. The wing is a large 205 sq ft (19.0 m2) area and is suitable for power-off soaring flight. The aircraft can be disassembled by one person in 45 minutes for ground transportation on a car top or for storage. The factory standard powerplant supplied with the Mite-Lite was the 28 hp (21 kW) Rotax 277 single cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine. [1]

Minimalism movements in various forms of art and design

In visual arts, music, and other mediums, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, John McCracken, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of modernism and is often interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism and a bridge to postminimal art practices.

Gliding recreational activity and competitive air sport

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.

The Rotax 277 is a 26 hp (19 kW), single-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, that was built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.

Production of all models ended when the company went out of business in 1998. [1]

Variants

Mite-Lite
Initial model, 28 hp (21 kW) Rotax 277 engine [1]
Solo 175
Improved model, 50 hp (37 kW) Rotax 503 engine. 25 reported as flying by 1998. [1] [2]
Dual 175
A Solo 175 with a second seat fitted, 50 hp (37 kW) Rotax 503 engine. Ten reported flying by 1998. [1] [2]

Specifications (Mite-Lite)

Data from Cliche [1]

General characteristics

Aircraft engine Engine designed for use in powered aircraft

An aircraft engine is a component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines, except for small multicopter UAVs which are almost always electric aircraft.

Performance

  • Cruise speed: 35 mph (56 km/h; 30 kn)
  • Stall speed: 23 mph (37 km/h; 20 kn)
  • Rate of climb: 600 ft/min (3.0 m/s)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cliche, Andre: Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide 8th Edition, page E-48. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. ISBN   0-9680628-1-4
  2. 1 2 Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition, page 210. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ISBN   0-9636409-4-1
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