Can anyone provide me with the history and current situation with the Kitfox Lite

From what I was able to find online, Dan Denney, of Idaho was the original Kitfox builder/designer (founder of the company) in 1984

8 years later Kitfox was bought out by SkyStar in 1992

8 years later, an employee group acquired SkyStar Aircraft In 2000

So during SkyStars tenure in 1998 they built a FAR-103 legal UL called the Lite

Kitfox makes no mention of the Lite on their website, not even as a history footnote

Furthermore it would seem that the Lite splintered off to a separate company or something because apparently someone named James Wiebe bought the Kitfox Lite assets from somebody who bought the assets at a bankruptcy court and now produces the BeLite (presumably a renamed Kitfox Lite) though I probably shouldn’t assume that

For Wiebe to end up with the Lite but not the rest of the Kitfox lineup…. It must have been a separate entity.

Can anyone shed some light on the “Lite” history and current situation?

1- Is the BeLite a renamed Kitfox Lite…. Perhaps updated slighty? Merely renamed for trademark reasons?
2- Did it get “spun-off” to a separate company?, who? When? Why?......and are they the ones who went Bankrupt?
3- If you had a SkyStar era Lite, does Kitfox support them? Parts etc?


It seems unusual for a company to spin-off just one of their models to a separate company, that would be like Audi continuing to produce the A4, A6 and A8 but selling the rights and tooling to the A5 to one of their competitors….. its got me scratching my head……. Figured maybe someone here would know

With Kitfox being known for very capable STOL planes with folding wings it would seem their UL version would crush the competition as most UL’s wings do not fold, have kingposts etc

From the limited info online, it sounds like it is/was a great UL plane worthy of the Kitfox name.