Bill & Art,
I have also been concerned with jacking the airplane high enough
to operate the gear…having twice had the wheels hit the concrete during
retraction because I didn’t jack it high enough. Fortunately, I tried a
manual extension first each time, so no harm/no foul, but like Art, I built a support
to stabilize the tail. It consists of telescoping pieces of 1” & 1 ¼”
iron pipe (they telescope nicely with little wobble) mounted with a flange to a
wooden cross…welded steel would be better. The smaller pipe is notched on
the top end to accept the tail eye bolt, and drilled for a retaining pin. Both
pipes are drilled to accept a bolt for height adjustment. After jacking the
mains to the proper height, I extend the tail support as needed, then lift the
engine hoist/nose just a bit to put some weight on the tail support. Makes the
airplane very stable on jacks; much less scary to climb in and out! Main
caution is to be sure to remove the tail support before starting to lower the
airplane!
Bob
From: Lancair Mailing
List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Art Bertolina
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 5:52 PM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] L IVP on jacks
sorry
to hear of your misfortune with the inspection.
Something
that may be of help for those putting their
planes
on jacks in the future. Along with the jacks and engine hoist I use a tail support
that stops the tail from
swinging
back and forth( which makes it more probable
the
plane will come off the jacks). The support consists
of two
10' 2x4s with a 2' piece across the top to form a
T
put carpet on the cross member, an eye screw 2' from
the
bottom of each T. Take a cargo strap( I use a second
for
backup) to connect the eye screws, put the top of the
T
under either side of the horizontal stab. As the plane is
jack
up use the cargo strap to keep the T's snug under the
stab.
This setup will keep the tail from swinging back and
forth.
Don't forget to loosen this as you lower the plane. Bill
yours
is the only experience I have heard about the inspection, not a store to
instill confidence. If you have an
inspection
and don't provide any assistance would they
accept
responsibility for damage and repair.