[Vern]

Most of us are familiar with how RV wings attach. Here's another way to do the job!

Some in the Falcon RV Squadron are helping with a veterans memorial project here at our airport (KFFC-FalconField,Ga). This includes refurbing an F-16 to put on a pylon in the park as well as Veteran's Memorial Bricks (see www.FalconMemorial.com / org).

A local helicopter overhaul facility just repainted the Viper and we were re-assembling it today. The F-16 is modular in construction. The wing roots have castings for bolts that attach it to the fuselage. Each wing weighs about 1,100 # and we had to use a forklift to raise and attach them.

 

[plehrke]

Simple, easy, and cheap for mass production as the F-16 was. Unfortuantly I could never get that by my strength guys. Our company likes big, expensive lugs that need complicated tooling to drill with very eligant ply lay-ups and drop-offs that the machined lugs attach to. Makes for a more direct load path from the wing skin into the fuselage.

 

[mrreddick]

Simple, easy, and cheap for mass production as the F-16 was. Unfortuantly I could never get that by my strength guys. Our company likes big, expensive lugs that need complicated tooling to drill with very eligant ply lay-ups and drop-offs that the machined lugs attach to. Makes for a more direct load path from the wing skin into the fuselage.

What do you mean WAS?
We're still building the F-16, granted not as many a month as the big hey-days but they're still the biggest money maker at Lockheed Martin Aero today!

 

[Phil]

It's too bad one of my favorite planes is going to end up on stick and be a pigeon poop catcher.

I know someone who bought a Spitfire-on-a-Stick in the UK and ultimately rebuilt it. It's a beautiful flying machine here in town now.

 

[cwreeves]

What do you mean WAS?

Those brackets on the first photo are called finger braces. You folks must be building block 60's for the UAE? Or how??
Charlie, RV-7, 35 hours, Tucson

 

[Andy Duff]

What do you mean WAS?
We're still building the F-16, granted not as many a month as the big hey-days but they're still the biggest money maker at Lockheed Martin Aero today!

Mike...you old Dinosaur. When are you going to move down to the South end of the flight line and work on a modern jet...LOL

 

[aparchment]

Yipes!

Someone please tell me this is a joke. Is there really no spar carry through? Man, that's scary. 8-10 bolts holding the wings on a plane that pulls 9Gs and flies supersonic. Maybe I shouldn't be enjoying going to airshows and watching the viper do its low level 360 maneuver.

 

[Steve Ashby]

Let's discuss an alternate scenario

Hey Verne,
What are the chances we can scare up Pratt & Whitney F100 engine and make this monument just a little more mobile than first planned? We could be the first on our block to go balistic with a homebuilt.

 

[DanH]

Oooo...fun project Vern. Ya'll been taking turns in the cockpit, making noises like "missile away!"?

 

[Rick S.]

Someone please tell me this is a joke. Is there really no spar carry through? .

No joke, the wing IS the spar and when was the last time you heard of a Falcon wing departing the aircraft in flight? Removing/replacing the "wing" is easy. Installing the LE flap actuators, torq tubes, wire harnesses, matrix assemblies, LE flaps, Flaperons and rigging all that is the hard part. I'll take an ADG change any day over that....If you know what an ADG is you know what I mean