REFLECTOR: N2XF Down in Stevensville -- Trailer Stands for Wings?

Mon Aug 11 13:28:51 CDT 2014

So, if it was me I'd pull the engine, ship it out for a rebuild, then reinstall it when it's ready and fly the plane home.

Larry Coen
N136LC (Still for sale)

From: Stockman, Bill via Reflector 
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 12:08 PM
To: Bob Jackson ; Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: N2XF Down in Stevensville -- Trailer Stands for Wings?

I suggest you contract with a flatbed tow truck for the main body and haul the wings yourself in a truck (or maybe on the tow truck if its big enough).

That's how I hauled mine a few years ago.

From: Reflector [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Bob Jackson via Reflector
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 10:41 AM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders List
Cc: 'Bob Jackson'
Subject: REFLECTOR: N2XF Down in Stevensville -- Trailer Stands for Wings?

We safely emergency -landed N2XF (Turbo-550N Velocity XL/RG) in Stevensville (32S) about 25 miles south of Missoula, MT yesterday afternoon.  

While on a short 'demo-FAM' flight with the son of a lifelong friend, I noticed oil pressure down at ~10 psi and decided to make an emergency landing in Stevensville, about 25 NM south of Missoula.  About ¼ miles short and 100' AGL of the Stevensville runway the engine surged and quit.  I feathered the prop and we were able to safely land on the 3800' paved runway.  The engine seized and you can't turn it much now on the ground.  The preliminary cause appears to be an internal oil seal leak in the pilot-side turbo.  There was a small amount of oil on the outside of the bearing section and dull black staining inside the turbo exhaust pipe, but no other oil leaks on the engine.

N2XF is based at X04 (Orlando Apopka airport) and I think we've decided the best approach is to pull the wings and trailer the plane back home to work on it there.  

Our current plan is to rent an ~8x16 ft open bed trailer (U-Haul?) and temporarily hitch it to a big engine rental car and drive it back to Orlando.  Our questions concern whether the rental car companies will let us pull a trailer, and also any special 'rigs', suggestions or advice any of our Velocity friends may have concerning particular trailers, tools or techniques.  

More specifically, we're wondering if anyone has any photos of cradles or rigs they used to trailer wings under the fuselage and keep them from getting scratched or damaged.

Considering many of the 'nasty', rugged terrains and cold waters we've been over during the last three weeks of our trip from Orlando to Anchorage and (partially!) back, we're fortunate and very grateful to now have the plane safely down on a small strip in Montana!

We would appreciate any photos of wing cradle-stands, other special tools or jigs, or other suggestions for trailering our plane and wings back to Florida!

Thanks,

Bob Jackson

Velocity XL-RG N2XF

Custom Turbo IO-550N

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