pulling wings off a Lightwing for road transport????

[Riley]

Greetings All

 

Have need to move a newly acquired but slightly tatty Lightwing about 350 km. On the acceptance inspection, a throttle cable parted which precluded any flight testing however, chafed fuels lines, coolant hoses BBQ-ing on exhaust stacks, various items wired in place (and others not wired at all) point to the fact that I'm probably better off trailering it to my hangar where it can be sorted properly rather than to 'clean things up' in the country and perhaps still end up in a paddock on the way home because we missed something. So..... trailering seems the most snag-free manner of ferrying. Can anyone give a scientific-wild-ast-guesstimate as to how big a job and how long it should take a couple of reasonably experienced spanner-bangers to pull the wings off a L/wing 912ul (or if, in fact, we should be even considering it)? Any and all info would be greatly appreciated asap as the move has to happen this week or get put on ice for about a month. Tks in anticipation. Riley

 

 

[pudestcon]

I don't have any advice for you Riley but good to see you've purchase the lightwing. Sounds like some restoration fun coming up for you. Might catch you at Bindoon sometime but not this weekend damn it!!!

 

Pud

 

 

[HEON]

Why do you not ask Lightwing ???

 

 

[facthunter]

Trailering Plane.

 

Riley, can't give you specific help on removing the wings, but IF you are going to transport it go to a lot of trouble to strap things so they won't chafe and support every part so it will travel well considering the wind gusts that come from opposite direction Semi's and the constant pounding from road surface roughness. Let the tyres of the trailer down to the lowest figure that will not damage them. I have transported an aircraft for 2500 kms and the winds were terrible for 2 days and the whole thing was a bit of a nightmare. Fully enclosed is the GO if yo can manage it. Nev

 

 

[icebob]

Hi,

 

I transported both my VP-2 from Melbourne to Sydney on a hired car transporter trailer without much problem.

 

Had fuselage facing forward,gust locks fitted to elevator and tail,made from scrap plywood and foam lined, 8 ratchet straps(rated at 300kgs each)for just the fuelage and 3 for each wing(rope the ends to stop sliding too). The wings(leading edge down) use heaps of thick blocks of cheap foam on leading edge and between both wings and where you use tie downs use 2 wide layers of thick cardboard(boxes from a new fridges) under each strap. I used big blocks of white styrene foam for sliding protection for the wings also found at the back of a big electrical store.

 

On each exposed edge had a foam strip and then covered the lot with a tarp.

 

Checked every 100kms or so as straps came loose often.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Bob.

 

 

[Riley]

G'day All

 

Many thanks to those who responded to my query re wing removal. Also spoke to Nick @ ALA & he confirmed that it was a no-brainer. Happy to say that we went down today and 2 1/2 hours later, had the wings off and the fuse tied down on the trailer. Got home well after dark with the cargo safe & sound. Will go back after the weekend with a stack of foam mattresses and collect the wings. Back in the air by mid-May?? Again, tks to all. Cheers Riley

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Riley, yes not a big deal really as you have found out. I might suggest while you have the wings off you may want to pull out the metal fuel tanks for a check. Not too big a job, a couple of bolts, and you have to carefully cut around the fuel cap, but that can be easily repaired later with some Sika flex, or a circular fabric patch.

 

Reason I say that, is that I recently had a tank leak which requires removal of the wing to get the tank out. A real inconvienance if you would rather be flying !! Don't know who did the welding on my alum tanks, but it was very ametuerish, and there were several small leaks due bad welds. I had the welds repaired by a welder and also sealed some areas externally by an aviation grade tank sealant. My plane had always had a fuel smell in the cabin and I don't have it anymore !. Check the tanks now at your convienance, if they have leaks you will see the stains on the outside of the tank. I would also recommend you get a small tub of Lanolin grease from a boat shop and get into the habit of putting some on your fuel cap threads. They are a marine item and can corrode and bind up, which destroys the threads, which then requires wing/tank removal as they are welded in. I had a boat owner tell me they wouldn't think of using them on a boat without Lanolin grease.

 

What model LW is it, is it one recently advertised in the mag ? I own GR-912 S/no 140 (2000 Model) with the optional flaps and heliview dash. Love it, just flew it from Townsville to the Hunter Vally and back...great trip. Do you have the aux fuel tank under the passenger seat ? It gives you 90 lts fuel capacity and is worth having if you do a lot of Xcountry stuff.........................................................................................Cheers Maj..