On Thu, 6 Feb 2014 02:08:38 +0000 (UTC), Martin Gregorie
wrote:

.... text deleted

Good point.

I've helped rig one of the Slingsbys which had a three piece wing.
Getting the C/s on was quite a hassle. While it can be done by three
people, having five on the job makes it a lot easier. The problem is that
you have to lift the wing quite high to clear the fuselage and keep it up
while the odd-numbered man attaches the wing to the fuselage. Putting the
tips on is easy but that doen't matter compared with handling the c/s.

One of the local clubs where I fly gas an SZD Pirat, which has a 15m
three-piece wing. They consider attaching and removing the c/s is such a
hassle that its normally left on and just the tips are removed when the
Pirat is put in the hangar.


On the difficulty of assembling 3-piece wings. Dick Johnson's 2-times
US Nationals winning (1963,1964) Skylark 4 has been flying in our area
(TSA) for the past 25 years with the same owner. The Skylark has a
3-piece wing with a 200+ lbs center section. Dick fabricated a slick
1-man fixturing assembly for the center section that allows 1-person
to handle the lifting while a 2nd person only has to guild a wheeled
assembly on the other end. Takes about 5 minutes to put the ship
together, with heavy lifting (~100 lbs) on the part of only 1 person.

Bob