Fold wings and tow?

I've seen this question on multiple forums / threads. New homebuilder, looking for something with folding wings - for the express purpose of keeping the airplane at home, and towing it to/from the airport and re-rigging for every flight. Does anyone actually DO this? Or is it just a marketing dream?

They often cite cost as a reason - can't afford a tie down, much less a hangar.

I don't do this myself. My reality is, after spending 3 years and 1000+ hours crafting my flying machine, I'm paying for a hangar. Even if I had the above idea when I started, that after spending years and the many hours of building, I probably couldn't bring myself to risk hauling it over the highways for every flight - or risk the ongoing damage possible in my garage...

I used to do this with a MiniMax 103. Took about a half hour to mount the wings each time. You are correct - there was more damage done to the airplane towing it than was ever done flying it. A real PITA and I rented hangar space as soon as I could. But, for those without access to a hangar, it is a definate solution to being able to fly and house an airplane. Better than not flying at all....

I feel like I just answered this, maybe on another forum. I unfold / fold the wings of my Kolb every flight. Takes 10 minutes each way. I don't tow it every time though; I generally keep the plane in the [enclosed] trailer at the airport, and only bring it home occasionally when I need to work on it (in the winter, I keep it it at home and tow it to the airport for the occasional flight). At the airport, I pay the outdoor tiedown rate, a lot less than hangar rent (not that there are any available hangars anyway).

Sonex Onex, all aluminum with folding wings.

http://www.sonexaircraft.com/index.html

Thanks for the replies. Anyone else with any experience I'd like to hear it. I believe Dana's response makes pretty good sense - if it's got easy-fold wings, and if you can leave an enclosed trailer at the airport (or squeeze it into an otherwise "full" hangar) - that might be a good way to achieve some additional functionality with folding wings. As to the Onex, no customer completions yet, though I have seen it up close - and (see my avatar photo) I believe they make a good airplane ;). Also the easiest wing-fold I've ever seen - there WILL be some added utility with wings THAT easy to fold. If you haven't seen it, it's about 15 seconds either folding up to store or unfolding for flight.

Although the wings don't fold, both the Volks Plane 1 & 2 were designed so the wings were quickly removeable and the plans included details of a wing rack and tow bar that fit on the plane. Add a light bar with a license plate and it would be towable on road for fairly short distances. The VP 1 plans are still available. The VP 2 plans are no longer sold, but details are available in the yahoo group. My own plane has folding wings (Fisher Horizon 1) but I would be very leary of towing it on its wheels on the highway and would want extra bracing on the wings in the folded position. I am designing a special trailer for it now which will probably use very heavy duty truck tarp to keep it out of the wind and elements when it is being towed.

Cheers
Daniel

I leave my plane folded in the garage. takes about 5 minutes and I am ready to fly The Rocky Mtn
wings Ridge runner is a great plane Love it - I have a trailer and it tows real easy.
I used to tow to the airport and kept the plane at home. I moved out of town. Now I keep it in the garage and fly out of my back yard.
A friend with a Kitfox used to keep his at home and trailerd to the airport every time he wanted to fly
Kitfox Avid flyer Ridgrunner Skyraider Kitfox Lite are all great quick fold designs
some of the Kolbs fold too but with a little more effort. I had a Mini Max that I made a trailer for. The wings came off fairly easily
but it was really a two person job. good luck Da_point_man
Attachment 748

Check out the Dyke Delta. Explicitly designed with folding wings and made to tow behind a car.

The original designer, John Dyke is still doing this with his prototype, for the past 40+ years!!!

A couple of other good designs with wing folding capability to consider:
1) the Fly Baby, designed by Pete Bowers, which won a EAA design contest in which the main criteria were folding wings, trailerable, easy to build and safe to fly. Great website http://www.bowersflybaby.com/ and builder's forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flybabylist/
2) The Sonerai I, II and IIS, plans and support available from Steve Bennett at Great Plains Aircraft http://www.greatplainsas.com/sonerai.html and builder's forum http://sonerai.proboards.com/

An excellent design with wings that fold in about two minutes: the Highlander, from Just Aircraft: http://www.justaircraft.com. Read about it on the Wings Forum, too: http://www.wingsforum.com/viewforum.php?f=218&start=0, and check out these videos from Steve Henry: Teaser for his DVD:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHXnQCE0kG0; Deadstick takeoff in a Highlander: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQP-H_31JQ; Highlander crosswind capability: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al5eA4WvqOk; Playing around on a circle track in a Highlander: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSEpHZp-Ra8

First off, I agree completely that the idea towing your plane to the airfield every time you want to fly is less interesting in para rice than in theory. There are even a few designed to be towed on their own gear without a trailer. When that gets old, however, there is still something to be said for folding wings if they allow you to bring your plane home for maintenance or seasonal storage or allow you to share a hangar.

I am biased, but let me humbly suggest Eric Clutton's FRED as an option if you are looking for a low-and-slow single-seater.

Cheers,

Matthew
www.cluttonfred.info

I take my Grob G109 to the airport for the summer and tie-down on the grass.
Bring it home for the winter. I like this, winter flying is rainy and windy, it is fun to come back in the spring.

Takes two hours to assemble. I like this as well. People come by to talk. Usually they offer to help, in that case it takes 3 hours.:)
Bill

I've been there/done that and find folding and going less than ideal. OTOH my only experience was with the Spezio Tu-holer ser#1 when I owned in in 1981. It would take about 1 hour to fold alone but I really needed help to avoid "hangar rash". I suppose it depends on hangar cost/availability? Here in WV my hangar is $50/month.

I just completed another Spezio ser#399, N92JM. While the wing folding remains I hard bolted controls and deleted quick change fairings. I do have the wing hold brackets and I could easily tow or trailer with only a bit over an hour to assemble . If one had a heated shop at home it would be nice to be able to bring it home to work on over winter etc. but to tow/fold every time I wanted to fly is to me not possitive.....Glad to have cheap hangar.

FWIW

Jack

I felt compelled to reply to this thread, as I have been trying a long time to find the right folding wing setup.

Every time I found a plane with folding wings, there was something else that didn't work, such as plane too long to store in the space I have available, plane too tall to store in that space, can't be towed on an open trailer, folding procedure too complicated, etc. It was always something. Then I came across the Spacek SD-1 - http://www.sdplanes.com/sd1a.htm . This video shows how easily the wings are attached: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKOrmETgMkM

So for me, this solves the "wing folding" dilemma.

Tom