Re: Towing to the airport

[drano]

Can't believe this aircraft is not AT the airport by now. If you're that
afraid the police will descend on you with all the fury they can muster,
pick up the tail and pull it there on foot! All the solutions you've been
discussing are more expensive than the potential ticket.

[Kyler Laird]

"drano" > writes:

>Can't believe this aircraft is not AT the airport by now. If you're that
>afraid the police will descend on you with all the fury they can muster,
>pick up the tail and pull it there on foot!

Oh! How about towing it by bicycle?! If you do it, send a photo here.
http://www.bikesatwork.com/hauling-cargo-by-bike/

--kyler

[wright1902glider]

OK, I've got quite a bit of experience with this one:

First, if your cops have already said no, then you'll need some sort of
proof that it is OK to tow the plane on its wheels. You'll need that
from the DMV, probably in the form of a trailer license plate and
registration. If your cops are anything like the ones in Louisville,
CO, then they will certainly see you, even on a farm road at 1:20 AM.
And they will ask to see that registration. When they do, hand it to
them, and prove that the DMV clearly DOES allow planes to be towed on
their wheels.

Do whatever the DMV says to do. If they'll let you classify it as
"wheeled equipment" or "farm eqipment", get it in writing. Again,
remember you'll need some sort of legal leg to stand on when said cops
or the town jerk shows up and tells you that you can't do what you're
doing.

If that doesn't work, and this will be a 1-time ferry to the airport,
consider hiring a rollback/flatbed wrecker. If it can be done for under
$275, load the plane on the flatbed and let them transport it for you.

Still not working? Routine 1-mile round trips to the airport? Take a
look at this web page:

hometown.aol.com/wright1902glider/airshow8.html

Look carefully and you'll see that this trailer started out as a 4x8
Northern Tool kit-trailer. I bought an 11ga. 2x3 box-tube from a steel
yard, and used it to stretch the trailer to its present length of 21'
overall. I used a new bolt-on coupler sized to fit the beam, and
purchased that at Wal-Mart. Since the original trailer tongue was a
metric size and slightly larger, I used two 1/4"-thick pieces of steel
strap as shims where the tongue joins the trailer frame. Got those at
Lowe's. The deck of the trailer is wood, framed with 2x4's, and covered
with 1/2" plywood that is screwed and glued. Since you won't be
building a box-trailer, you won't need as much deck as I do, just
enough to support the plane's wheels.

One word of caution: Don't discard the trailer's data-tag when you
chuck that old tongue. It contains the trailer's official VIN. Make
sure you modify the tag's info to restate the trailer's new length.
You'll need this to get the trailer registered & tagged. If you don't
have it, the DMV may issue you a homebuilt trailer VIN dataplate, but
that's a hassle. Wanna guess how many times I circled the block looking
for a place to park my rig when I went to the Colorado DMV for issuance
& inspection?

Harry "that's one way to do it" Frey

rolling hawg-shed specialist
Wright Brothers Enterprises

[Jim Carriere]

wright1902glider wrote:
> If that doesn't work, and this will be a 1-time ferry to the airport,
> consider hiring a rollback/flatbed wrecker. If it can be done for under
> $275, load the plane on the flatbed and let them transport it for you.

I hired a flatbed tow truck for $60 to bring my airplane kit crate from
the shipping docks to my house. That was for a 20-30 mile trip. I was
beyond pleased at how carefully he drove and how carefully he put the
crate inside my garage, so there was a big fat tip for him at the
destination :)

The trucks come with their own tackle too, so there is pretty near zero
manual labor involved getting the cargo up and back down again.