Wing Materials pickup

Pups (Brooke our Australian Shepherd) and I loaded up at 6am and set off to WV to pick up the wing materials I had agreed to purchase from another builder. The drive was just short of 5 hours each way and the weather was a combination of fog, rain, and big wet snow flakes. Despite the crummy weather we had a good trip out and back with the Opposing Bases podcast to keep us company.

When Brooke and I arrived Dallas and Dan, his long time friend, (also a builder/pilot) were there and waiting. Dallas and Dan built 4 Bearhawk fuselage and wing kits, two for other builders and one for each of them. Dan and Dallas, a welder by trade, built full steel jigs for the construction of all 4 planes so there is a high level of consistency among them. You can find some more details about their build over at the HomeBuiltAirplanes forum.

After some introductions and conversation we got down to the task of loading up. All the smaller parts like wing rigs, tools, flap and aileron support brackets, and hardware were loaded up in the back of the pickup cab. The two 4'x8' sheets of 5052 aluminum were sandwiched between two pieces of plywood in the bed. The bent spar channels, wing struts, aileron counterweight tubes, boxed wing skins all went in the bed on top of the plywood sandwich. Finally the long capstrips were stretchwrapped to a 2x6x16' with blocking forward and aft to prevent the material from shifting. The bundle of capstrips were loaded up top spanning from the cab to a hitch load extender. All and all this worked perfect! I should also mention that Dallas included a number of items not previously discussed which was very generous of him. These included a fiberglass split nosebowl, and numerous bits of hardware for use in the fuselage when the time comes.

Once the truck was loaded up we went over to Dan's hanger two over from Dallas's. I got to see his JRM Special which he designed and is just about done building. Dan also shared some stores and photos of a number of planes he's beautifully restored over the years. Hanging with Dan and Dallas was the highlight of the trip and they have both extended an open invitation to visit any time and offered their advice and guidance through the build.

Pups and I started our return trip around 2pm and had similar weather on the way home, otherwise the trip was unremarkable. Once home we quickly offloaded everything into the garage and called it a night! Tomorrow it's workbench and garage prep time!