How long to remove wings and tail.

jraymond4321 · #1 07-13-2008, 05:14 PM

Can anyone provide an estimate on how long they think it would take to remove the wings and tail of a RV-6A for shipping (couple of hours or a couple of days??) to europe?

I've been asked the question, and since I didn't build my plane, I have no idea.

Thanks in advance

N941WR · #2 07-13-2008, 05:26 PM

I have helped do it in about four hours but that was with the help of five other RV builders. This is key as everyone knew what to do and just did it.

Plan on two days, not counting getting the crating ready.

Mel · #3 07-13-2008, 05:57 PM

We have disassemble, packed and loaded a -6 into a truck in 14 hours. Two of us with help from the wives. A -6A would be more trouble because of the wing/landing gear setup. I would plan on 2 full days.

Bob Axsom · #4 07-14-2008, 12:46 AM

I installed my wings as I was building the plane then had to remove them to continue building in half of a 2 car garage once the wing interface was complete. It was difficult because of the large number of close tolerance and other bolts and the dependence of the main landing gear on the wing spar. You must plan to get the weight off the wheels; support the fuselage independent of the landing gear before you start removing those 60+ bolts attaching the wing spars to the fuselage (and they are tight). Once the plane is completed the task is much more difficult than the stage at which I went through it. All of the wires and tubes will have to be disconnected in a way that will allow them to be reconnected correctly and not get damaged or contaminated. Since the brakes are probably installed you will probably want to leave the main landing gear attached to the fuselage but you will need a false spar to insert into the space vacated by the wing spar in order to do this. Once you get the wings off and the landing gear remounted with a false spar the rest is fairly straight forward. I will take two very full days and perhaps more if you are not familiar with the construction of the airplane. The most difficult part is the wing removal - have drift pins and a good plastic mallet on hand. If the plane has been flown there will be the fuel onboard to deal with.

Bob Axsom