L-13 Blanik Tow OUt Gear

Looking for examples of L-13 tow out gear. Has anyone designed and or constructed equipment to facilitate towing a L-13, 13ac, or 23 behind a vehicle? Now that I have mine flying again I am looking for a way to move it around the airport by myself.
Boise Pilot

On Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 9:56:59 AM UTC-7, Boise Pilot wrote:
Looking for examples of L-13 tow out gear. Has anyone designed and or constructed equipment to facilitate towing a L-13, 13ac, or 23 behind a vehicle? Now that I have mine flying again I am looking for a way to move it around the airport by myself.
Boise Pilot

That is what a 12 year old is for.

A wing runner wheel made by making a fiberglass splash off the tip is simple.
If the rebuild left the wench bridle attachments in place, towing it forward is the best. The L13 tail structure is to fragile to work for a backward tow.
02Soar

My 12 year old is now 38 and not interested...and not many 12 year olds hanging out at the airport. Understand the comment about towing it backwards, will have to have the tail wheel off the ground on some type of tow bar. Blanik America sent me a couple of photos of two variations for L-23's that were manufactured by the then Blanik factory 12 years ago. Not usable as designed, for a l-13 but a start. Just hoped some owner of the 125 Blanik l-13's in the US before the grounding AD had addressed this issue.
Boise Pilot







On Wednesday, October 31, 2018 at 1:31:24 PM UTC-6, wrote:
On Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 9:56:59 AM UTC-7, Boise Pilot wrote:
Looking for examples of L-13 tow out gear. Has anyone designed and or constructed equipment to facilitate towing a L-13, 13ac, or 23 behind a vehicle? Now that I have mine flying again I am looking for a way to move it around the airport by myself.
Boise Pilot

That is what a 12 year old is for.

A wing runner wheel made by making a fiberglass splash off the tip is simple.
If the rebuild left the wench bridle attachments in place, towing it forward is the best. The L13 tail structure is to fragile to work for a backward tow.
02Soar

Not really tow out gear related, but I recall years ago, Bill Seed discovered that the ailerons had a "stop to stop motion" that would get going at about 5-10 MPH tailwind. You might need to restrain the stick or have an obvious, easy to remove gust lock to prevent damaging the ailerons. This mode was encountered when pulling the plane forward, downwind, to the end of the runway for doing auto tows. Wind speed minus walking speed set it off. Something to be aware of.

As for a tow bar, could you make a cuff with a wheel to set the tail in, then pin it to the airframe where the ground handling tail tube gets poked through? Your wing wheel is going to have a really big cuff!

Good luck!

Steve Leonard

On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 10:51:02 AM UTC-4, Steve Leonard wrote:
Not really tow out gear related, but I recall years ago, Bill Seed discovered that the ailerons had a "stop to stop motion" that would get going at about 5-10 MPH tailwind. You might need to restrain the stick or have an obvious, easy to remove gust lock to prevent damaging the ailerons. This mode was encountered when pulling the plane forward, downwind, to the end of the runway for doing auto tows. Wind speed minus walking speed set it off. Something to be aware of.

As for a tow bar, could you make a cuff with a wheel to set the tail in, then pin it to the airframe where the ground handling tail tube gets poked through? Your wing wheel is going to have a really big cuff!

Good luck!

Steve Leonard

My club in Germany operated a L13 until the left wing came off in mid-flight. Originally, the L13 only had a tail-skid and the ground handling dolly we had was just like Steve described: an A-shaped frame with bushings on each end to put an aluminum tube through them and the fuselage and a well for the skid. There was a caster wheel with a pneumatic tire below that well. Because the L13 is a 'tail-sitter' no additional fastenings between the tail skid and the dolly was required.
Later, we had the factory replace the tail skid with a caster tail wheel so the dolly became obsolete.
It would be quite conceivable to install an off-center tow bar on that dolly and make an wing-wheel with an open cuff so one wouldn't have to deal with the 'tip-tanks'.
Uli
'AS'

Thread Hijack
AS- Did they ever determine why that L-13 wing came off?
Hate when that happens...

On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 8:29:20 PM UTC-4, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Thread Hijack
AS- Did they ever determine why that L-13 wing came off?
Hate when that happens...

Yep - it was the same reason that years later lead to the world-wide grounding of them. The wing came off at about 2,000ft. The front seat pilot bailed out quickly while the instructor in the rear seat had to fight his way out of that 'cubby hole'. Both carried static line chutes and landed safely.
Uli
'AS'

On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 6:53:11 PM UTC-6, AS wrote:
Quick History. The below is correct.over 800 in the world and over 100 in the USA were grounded over 8 years ago. The then owner of the Blanik license was not financially motivated to come up with a repair, there was an outfit in Germany fairly early in the process that did but it did not take hold for a number of reasons mostly FAA, Jal, EASE and money reasons. About two years ago Greg Mecklenburg in Bozeman got involved and through a lot of work dealing with the FAA and now Czech Republic Blanik licensee obtained a FAA approval for repair. The two options were send it to the Czech factory or get a repair- or shops- shop in the US to be approved to do the repair.. A few were contacted but not knowing how many of the ones still showing on the FAA registry would step forward none took it on. We shipped three in a container - with Greg's fantastic design and construction of the glider mounts after being told only two would fit - three to the factory in Feb. of this year and got them back in Sept. All were totally overhauled which was included in the repair and now have 6,000 hour life limits before another major overhaul. The cost of shipping three in a container was about the same as two on trailers and the cost of the repair/inspection was less than $20k. They are like new. Compared to anything else out there under $100K these are great trainers.Just glad to have a reliable two place in the Boise valley for tow pilot check rides, BFR's and fun flights. Flew with my wife for an hour earlier this week in unusual conditions with lift in late Oct. Putting it away for the winter.
Boise Pilot.

On Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 8:29:20 PM UTC-4, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Thread Hijack
AS- Did they ever determine why that L-13 wing came off?
Hate when that happens...

Yep - it was the same reason that years later lead to the world-wide grounding of them. The wing came off at about 2,000ft. The front seat pilot bailed out quickly while the instructor in the rear seat had to fight his way out of that 'cubby hole'. Both carried static line chutes and landed safely..
Uli
'AS'