Move to the Airport - Jim Moore

It’s Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving. The thermometer reads 27 degrees outside with clear blue skies. That can only mean one thing  . . ROADTRIP !!! Time to move Juliette Kilo to her new digs at S50. Fellow Rv-12’r Wayne Johnson graciously offered his experience and his trailer for the task and along with my son, Ian and my wife, Kathy we got down to business. But before we could do that, there needed to be some discussion on how to go about getting JK out of the box. After about 20 minutes or so and a quick review of theoretical geometry we began loading up the trailer.

 We used a cable come-along to winch the plane up the ramps. It was a rather slow process but it was a lot easier and safer than pushing and kept the plane in the middle of the ramp. The tie down ring on the tail briefly touched the garage floor but was quickly mitigated with a strategically placed 2x4 under the mains. When the plane was up on the trailer it appeared the hitch looked a bit light so off to Home Depot for some sand bags.

After the sandbags were secured to the trailer we set off for the airport. The 5 mile journey took about 20 minutes or so. There were a few rubberneckers watching our parade go by but overall the traffic was pretty light. One note to mention, I had only one other experience towing anything, and that did not go all together well so I was on high alert as our little caravan made its way down the road -  Kathy in the lead running interference and Wayne bringing up the rear.  

We arrived at Auburn Muni at about 11:30 and paraded JK down the taxiway to her new home.

Once we unhooked all the tie down straps affixed to the gear it only took about 2 minutes to get her off the trailer. After a brief inspection and no damage sited we rolled her into the hanger.

Something was missing though. The picture was just not complete without the wings. Popped those babies on with only a slight adjustment and bingo . . . it was an airplane!

I would like to say a special thank you to Wayne Johnson for all his help. Wayne provided his time (on the Friday after Thanksgiving, of all days), the trailer and all the fixin’s and considerable know-how which made the move smooth and successful. I cannot thank him enough.