A

AirWolf

Active Member
Everyone,

I am going to be moving the 9A to the airport on Friday (Finally!!!!), and I wanted to know what is the best way to tie down the plane? I will be having a towing company come out and loading up the plane onto a flatbed trailer.

Is restraining the wheels suffucient, and if so, how were the straps oriented so that they would not damage the brake lines, etc. I was also thinking about using the pieces of wood that went into the spar box when the QB Fuse arrived, and tying down to that instead of the main wheels?

Thanks for the suggestions!
Ron
 
Wings and tail on or off?

Ron,

First off, congrats on the move. That will be a big day!

Are you moving the plane with the wings and tail removed?

If so, it is much easier. I just helped Radomir move his wings in my pickup w/o damage. Maybe he can share the photo of how we did that.

Basically we put the wing cradle (w/o wheels) in my pickup bed, placed the wings in the cradle with the spar stubs forward.

I looped a long ratchet strap around the stub and hooked the other end to the aft truck tie down.

Another ratchet strap went from the wing's tie down ring to the forward truck tie down.

These kept the wings from moving fore and aft.

Another strap went from the spar stub to the forward truck tie down and yet another went from the wing tie down ring to the aft truck tie down.

These two straps kept the wings & cradle from moving side to side.

Although his fuselage wasn't fully assembled when we moved it, we put foam under it and secured it in a big U-Haul, 28' I think.

I have seen RV's wrapped in what seemed like miles of bubble wrap for the trip. Either way, it will come out fine.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Bill
 
RV Strapped Down on truck

This is one of the biggest moments in the build process and it is RISKY! I will include and image of my move. The wings were a piece of cake in the back of my small pickup - one trip for each wing. The Fuselage however is a big deal. Strap everything down that can move - control surfaces, prop etc.
My main securing mechanism involved fwd and aft eyebolts in the wood stub spar which in turn was bolted to the fuselage. The other was the tail tiedown ring.

Bob Axsom

rvontruck5lz.jpg
 
Thanks Bob, that is exactly what I have been looking for! So was the nosewheel restrained as well? I was thinking that my main restraint would be the stub spars, and then the secondary/emergency restraint would be the nosewheel and tail....and potentially the steps.

Ron
 
I chocked the wheels with 2x4s - no strap down

Stick some little chocks before and behind the wheels but fore and aft strapdowns on the wingspar stubs and the tail hook will keep it securely in place on the truck. We drove from Laguna Hills to the airport at Chino in California at freeway speeds (the traffic was moving freely - need to add that for the folks that live there). One thing I need to add about the load and unload using a tilting bed "tow truck" as I did. The fuselage is too long to make the transition cleanly from the ground to the truck bed - the tail will hit the ground. I anticipated this and positioned a caster wheeled furniture mover with a piece of plywood on it under the tail hook to transfer to load to that point and protect the rudder, etc. I also layed plywood on the truck bed and driveway interface for the main gear ONLY to make the transition much more gradual and allow the main gear to start going up when the nose gear starts going up. This keeps the tail from dipping so low.

Bob Axsom
 
i had no trouble loading or unloading my 7A onto a rollback "tow truck" it loaded without the tail coming close to hitting the ground. i think the 7A tail sits higher then the 6A which may make a difference. i tied it down fore and aft as previously stated but also ran straps forward from the motor mount to prevent aft movement. fred
 
Funny, but when I move my RV

I hope the tail does drag!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist saying that!
 
N941WR said:
I hope the tail does drag!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist saying that!
Click to expand...

Well, everything went very well, and there were no issues at all! And Bill, it was very close but no tail-draggin for my 9A.
I loaded it on a level surface and it wasn't even close, but when I unloaded it at the airport, the ramp leading to the rollup door has a slight angle on it, so it came very close!

Ron
RV-9A At the airport!
 
Ron,

Good to hear all went well. I suspect that you will announce your 1st flight next Saturday? :D

Good luck with what's left.
 
Yeah, I wish I could post my first flight next saturday! Got a couple more things to do before that!

Here's a picture of the plane at the airport...besides the rain, the move was perfect!
CIMG0344.JPG
 
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