Stage 2 - Turn the parts into a glider

Back at Sterling it is not quite as cold as the November day the gliders were decommissioned, but not far off. The fuselage slides out the trailer. Any remaining old dried grease is removed from control services and new grease added. A minor dispute on the relative value of bicycle grease and Vaseline is not resolved. The wings go on with just a little to and fro motion to line up the holes for the main spar and to connect the control surfaces. The main spar takes a little persuasion with a rubber mallet. The aileron pins are lined up to be able to take the safety wire and the (??? pins) are oriented with the bend in the metal pointing to the wing. Cotter pins and safety wire go into all the appropriate locations.

Then it is the stabilizer to go back on, reattaching the control pins that were just a little troublesome to remove a couple of hours earlier. Reversing the previous procedure, the lock is inserted facing up, twisted down - and of course, secured with safety wire.

At this point I was called away to haul gliders around, which did give the opportunity to film Scott demonstrate his coast guard training with a perfect truckers hitch.

Stage 1 - into the trailer

Getting to Tanner-Hiller is not quite as complex as it first appears, but is easier with Scott driving. 118B had been flown there at the end of last season and was stored with the stabilizer attached. Twisting the stabilizer lock from down to up, a few minutes of wiggling and judicious use of screwdriver freed the control surfaces and allowed removal of the stabilizer, to be laid carefully on the grass. The fuselage could then be moved out in its dolly and kept to one side. The wings go in the trailer first. Looking from the back of the glider the left hand wing is on the left of the trailer. After loosening the wheel on the wing dolly the wings slid in easily to be strapped in and the fastening bolts at both ends could be attached. Next is the stabilizer, which is nice and light and fits in the rack, top center of the trailer.
Next comes the fuselage. The trick here is to have a couple of people stand on the rear of the trailer and raise the front so that the ramp up is at a gentle angle. Lift the fuselage from the storage dolly (which remains at Tanner-Hiller) and put it into the trailer dolly. Keep the dolly far enough back so the when the fuselage is all the way in the dolly is not stuck against the front of the trailer. However, if you get it wrong (as we did) it is not too hard to lift the fuselage and slide it along. Ian, at the front of the trailer during this operation could escape out the the hatch. Finally comes bolting the rear fuselage stand down and we are ready to shut up all the doors and lower the trailer back onto the hitch. The whole operation was remarkably smooth, taking under an hour before Ian navigated us flawlessly back to 3B3.