S

s_tones

Well Known Member
I'm just curious;
I've seen a few RVs completed to the point of wing attachment in people's garages. How do these folks transport an airplane with its 25ft wings to the airport?

S_tones
 
It looks like most people get a flatbed tow truck to pick up the fuselage (no wings) and take it to the airport for final assembly in a hangar. The wings and remaining parts are then brought in a Ryder truck or something similar. This is just from reading a few guys' build pages.
 
Rollback

A friend has built half a dozen RV's and the autobody painter comes to the airport with his rollback truck, tilts the bed and winches the airplane up and straps it down tight and goes to the paint shop. Reverses it all later and it's assembled already painted.

Regards,
Pierre
 
Is it possible?

So, is it feasable to complete the thing in your garage and get it down the highway on a truck? I see house trailers going down the road but I don't think they're 25' wide.

I know most don't do it this way but it looks like some do.

S_tones
 
I'm Looking Ahead, Too.

s_tones said:
I'm just curious;
I've seen a few RVs completed to the point of wing attachment in people's garages. How do these folks transport an airplane with its 25ft wings to the airport?

S_tones
Click to expand...

I plan to complete mine at home and if possible, fly it out of my 1000' pasture. If I decide to transport to the closest (grass) strip two miles away I plan to build a cradle for my flatbed trailer that holds the airplane in a steep nose down attitude, wing span fore and aft. My issue is hoisting and pivoting the airplane, safely, to load it on the trailer.
 
I've heard this second hand, but know the person who supposedly did it and do believe it happened as it fits the person in question and I trust the person who told me. The guy leaves 20 minutes from the airport. He restored a Cessna 02 and had it complete at home. Only problem is that his house is on one side of the city and the airport on the other side. He got a police escort and taxied to the airport. When they got there, they couldn't get in due to the fence, so they had to build a ramp the following weekend so that the wings would go above the fence.

I would have loved to see people faces.
 
s_tones said:
So, is it feasable to complete the thing in your garage and get it down the highway on a truck? I see house trailers going down the road but I don't think they're 25' wide.

I know most don't do it this way but it looks like some do.

S_tones
Click to expand...
I think you are missing something here.

The planes are transported to the airport w/o the wings (or tail's in some cases) attached. They bolt on, so removing and re-installing them isn't a big deal.

After I fit my wings and did all the things they require, I removed them and as of two weeks ago, they are now in my hangar.

Trust me on this, you want those wings off as soon as you can because walking around them is a major PITA!

As for the wings, we brought them to the airport in the back of a pick-up. The 3, 4, 6, 7, & 8 wings will fit in a 6 1/2 foot pickup truck bed by the wings for a -9 I had to talk a friend into coming over with his 2006 F250 w/ an 8 foot bed, 10 1/2 feet with the tailgate down and the wings still stuck over the end.



Oh, and the flaps and HS went in the back of this truck as well because they stuck out past the lowered tailgate in my Titan "long bed" (6 1/2 foot).

Wrapping everything in industrial strength bubble wrap helped ensure a damage free ride.
 
take the wings off

I moved from one airport to another (bigger better hangar, farther from the ocean and for less money... a no brainer) after I thought I was past the point of permanently mounting the wings. Turns out it only wastes about a day of work with two buddies to pull the wings back off, move the whole thing (towing company with a flatbed), and re-assemble it at the new hangar. The biggest pain was cutting all the wires and installing connectors when I put it back together. My advice, just take it apart, rather than risk all your hardwork by moving the thing assembled. You'll probably spend as much time figuring out how to load the truck as you would taking the wings off, anyway.

Paul
RV-7... oh, so close!
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrblobbyone/RVPhotos
 
OK

OK, thanks you guys.
It sounds like you can pretty much bring the plane to completion at home then, including fitting and then removing the wings if necessary at home.

I'm asking because, though still a lurker, I hope to do this eventually.
It is important to me that I can avoid as much hangar-build-time as possible since the driving to and from the airport would remove me from the proximity of my family.

I still have to get over this other hump; I have a very fine Archer that I really enjoy flying and she's gonna have to go in order to finance the build.
Ouch!

S_tones
 
mrblob said:
...You'll probably spend as much time figuring out how to load the truck as you would taking the wings off, anyway.

Paul
RV-7... oh, so close!
http://picasaweb.google.com/mrblobbyone/RVPhotos
Click to expand...
You 7 guys sure have it easy:D . I never ever want to take off my 6 wings again. Seems like it is on the order of 80 bolts or so, and a bunch of them are difficult.

I transported my airplane without the wings, but I had never completely installed the wings in the shop.
 
n5lp said:
You 7 guys sure have it easy:D . I never ever want to take off my 6 wings again. Seems like it is on the order of 80 bolts or so, and a bunch of them are difficult.

I transported my airplane without the wings, but I had never completely installed the wings in the shop.
Click to expand...
Ahh, Larry,

It's **only** 76!! (or was that 78?) ... Not 80!!:)

James
Wings on 6A at airport and I hope to never have to take then back off!!
 
Think it out carefully

I moved my fuselage with tail attached on a tilt bed wrecker, then took my wings (one at a time as I recall) in my small Dodge Ram 50 pickup.

There is a problem with the "A" models that can bite you if you don't think it out carefully before hand (I did thank goodness). In the worse case the truck driver will want to back up to your driveway which often times slope down to the street. If they simply winch the plane up on the sloped flat bed the nose wheel will start up the sloped bed and the rear of the fuselage will tilt way down and hit the pavement destroying at least the bottom rudder cap and lift at least one of the main gear off of the ground. In an extreme case the fuselage could flip over. If you use some long 2"X8" leader boards you can start lifting the main gear early and avoid the extreme tail down rotation when the nose gear starts up the ramp. In addition some provisions should be made to prevent the rudder from hitting the ground just in case. I did and I needed it even with 10' leader boards for the main gear. I sawed a 3/8" wide notch in a short 2"X4" and placed it on a 3/4" piece of plywood on top of a 4-wheel (castering) funiture/desk mover and ran that under the tail tiedown ring as the fuselage slowly went up on the truck bed.

I build an RV-6A installed the wings diagonally in the garage, completed the rigging, then removed them and continued working until there was nothing more I could do at home before moving to the airport (Chino). Installing the bolts in an RV-6A wingspar, fuselage and main landing gear weldments is a job that seems impossible but a wise man does not occupy his wife's side of the garage unnecessarily.

Bob Axsom
 
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