The garage was
too full to work any more. We needed to get to the airport.
We borrowed our
friend's (Craig and Mike) cradle and put the plane on a dolly. A 3/4"
sheet of plywood attached to the liftgate was big enough to get all of the
wheels on at the same time.
The "insertion" went
well. The wheels where approx 1/2" wider than the entry way of the truck,
but a bit of squeezing and twisting got the plane in the truck.
Not wanting to remove
the empenage, we tied it down and let the tail hang out. The 30 minute
trip to the airport (at 20 miles/hour!) went well.
No pictures of the
unloading, but it aged both of us by 2-3 years. When clamping the plywood
to the lift-gate to get the plane out of the truck, we put the clamps on with
the pipe end facing down. As the lift-gate began to descend, the pipes hit
the ground and started to stop the gate from moving. One of them broke at
the clamp, causing the plane to tilt left by 20 degrees. We needed to get
the plane down quickly as Craig was now holding the tail, trying to stop it from
twisting. I kicked the other clamp out and brought the gate down the rest
of the way to the ground. It ended well, but watching 3 years of work
begin to tumble to the ground can make for a very bad day!
