Started 03/11/06
How to move a 23' long fuselage on a 10' long trailer:
As you can see, the tail of the plane must hang over the bed of the pick-up truck. We were going to just set the tailwheel down in the bed of the truck and let it pivot there, then later decided to build a brace system so the entire weight of the fuselage is sitting on the trailer.
Here is a better picture of the bracing system:
The 2 x 4 that goes across is slipped in between the stringers and the bottom
longerons. It is placed near one of the stations for better support
from the vertical and diagonal tubes.
The whole thing is strapped down to the trailer with several tie down
straps:
Here we are making the sharpest turn of the trip - pulling out of my
driveway:
We were mainly concerned that the sides of the pick-up would hit the fuselage
longerons near the tail. They had plenty of clearance.
The airport is about 25 miles away and some of the trip had to be made on the Interstate. Much to the dismay of my fellow motorists, I took advantage of the 40 MPH minimum speed limit while they all whizzed by at 75 to 80 mph.
Needless to say we made it to the airport in one piece. Here is a picture
of Bearhawk #682 in its temporary home in the project hangar at
Stennis International Airport:
(KHSA):
The young man posing with the Bearhawk is my 8 year old grandson "Cole".
He is my occasional helper.
By comparison here is Cole on the day that my RV6A was 1st transported to
the same hangar back in 2001:
Gee whiz, those RV wings look so short by comparison now (and so does Cole
:>))
Click here to go to Fitting Wings to Fuselage page 2