vk6xre.waus.net

After months I have my NZ PPL. Besides the requirement to do a BFR, fill in a heap of paper work CAA required a fit and proper person application, which required an Australian Federal Police check. Of course the Police check took forever and the end result was the expected one page saying I was unknown to them. Then the wait for CAA to process. Anyway my PPL turned up last Saturday, so I rented a C172 and went for my first NZ solo fly, Wigram to Rangiora and back. Not a long flight 20 mins each way, but at $200/hour you wouldn’t want to be up there long. 

Well actually, VH-ETT no longer exists as she is now off the Australian register. The new registration for Betty will be ZK-XRE. At the moment a great deal of parts refurbishment is going on, I have just about got all the nasty leaky fuel tank sealant out of the left wing and soon will be resealing. The tail cone has been refurbished, the wing tips sport new Nav Light covers and have been cleaned up. The rudder has it new lexan rudder cap, the VOR antenna in the vertical stabiliser has a refurbished (by me) cable. The nose bowl is just about finished, it was full of stone/bug pits. Alot of other minor things have been done. I am halfway though installing the new 406 Mhz ELT. All this work is being done under the supervision of Pat my LAME. So we continue on.

With a lot of effort and hard work we eventually got the wings off bETTy the Grumman Traveler. They hadn’t been off for 18 years so I think the best grease would of turned into glue. In the end we resorted to suspending bETTy from the ceiling of the hangar by the main spar, strapping the wing to a very heavy bench fortified with every lead battery could find, attaching block and tackles to each wing spar and then, with the aid of a engine crane, wiggling the fuselage back and forth working the wing out.

For the main wheels we made up a couple of right angle brackets and so reversed the wheels. This allowed us to push bETTy around and into the container.

In the end we got her into the container and she is expected to arrive at in NZ on the 14th of February.

Had a nice fly down to Bunbury to catch up with the Sports Aircraft Builder Club, Phil VK6AD, Charlie ZCK, Trish QL and the gang. Cruised down there at 4500 foot “on top”, had a great 27 Kn tailwing all the way down, ground speed was 147 kn on the GPS.

 I put the question to the Gurus of the Grumman Gang re packing bETTy my Grumman Aeroplane into a 20 ft container so that it could be transported to New Zealand. David Fletcher gave me the good oil on how to do it and this is what he said:

 The AA-5 will fit a 20 foot container just fine. you will need to remove the stabilizer and elevators and prop. Leave the  trim screw and flywheel in place. Remove both wheels and secure the main axles with long lag screws in 4X4s. I cut a notch in the 4X4 so it will sandwich the axle flush. Add enough 4X4’s to elevate the fuselage so the wings will fit underneath Countersink the lag screws into the 4X4s onto the floor. (don’t need to do that if you use a 40′ container) 

I usually saw one scrap axle in half so it will fit span wise without trouble. If not you will have to weld fabricate a support that will bolt to the gear leg. You cannot winch the gear legs together because you need the space to set the wings. Use at least one 2″ ratchet strap through the center spar and tighten to all it’s worth. Another ratchet strap on the crankshaft to the floor will secure the fuselage completely. Tie downs on the floor will allow additional straps to secure the wings and ailerons. Stabilizers will need to be strapped vertically against the aft wall. Buy some foam mattress and use liberally.

David Fletcher

 So other than sawing the Axel in half it all seems straight forward. Whilst it may be easy to get some scrap axles in the states I don’t think there is much of a chance here in the antipodes. I think I will look at replacing the axles with brackets.

Robyn