A devastating fire broke out at the manufacturing facility for Belite Aircraft late last week. The company produces the Chipper experimental and the UltraCub ultralight, as well as the Radiant instrument line.
According to company founder James Wiebe, “It appears that the fire started at our CNC router dust collection system. Intense smoke filled the building, and my office and much of our building contents was destroyed. The back area of the building (in the production area), everything higher than 6 feet off the ground was melting or burned. Much of our raw inventory and all of our older collections of parts for older aircraft designs (for instance, ProCub and UltraCub) was upstairs. It appears that almost all raw inventory and most if not all work in process for aircraft kits was destroyed.”
The fire came at a time when Belite was seeing significant success. “We had been working very hard this year … our sales for the year were at a record company level.”
Weibe concluded, noting that he was and his wife were in contact with the insurance company, that “we do not know what is next.”
Don’t give up Jim! You’ve got a great thing going there. I’m a long way away but I’ve see a lot of you on YT, especially with Dan Johnson who clearly enjoys catching up with you. Your work with that super light aluminium honeycomb impressed me greatly. Dunno why, maybe it’s your enthusiasm and the strength of the ideas, but you’ve oriented me towards AC like yours for the first time. Onwards and upwards!