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Old February 13th 18, 06:53 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bob Whelan[_3_]
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Posts: 400
Default Worried about a leading edge crack in the fiberglass winglaminate of my PW-5

On 2/13/2018 4:49 AM, wrote:
Snip...
...The glider lives in its trailer at the airport. I only have a
Honda Civic, so it may seem a bit "off", but it's true. I'm not just making
an excuse here. I normally borrow my brother's truck to move it.


It took a while, but eventually sufficient rust fell off my memory cell, thus
regenerating a coupla possibly-actionable anecdotes...

- some years ago a soon-to-be friend arrived at my home field (KBDU) towing an
original PIK-20A in an original PIK factory trailer behind a 2nd-generation
Civic. They'd moved from Louisiana with the rig. Not the cutesy 1st-gen
liquid-cooled-engine Civic, but its slightly supersized successor (that soon
allowed Honda to show its after-sale customer support by warranty-replacing
beaucoup rusted-through front fenders). It was years before he replaced that
particular tow-vehicle. Anemic in the mountains, but he never killed it
mechanically by using it in that manner. Memory sez he had some sort of
generic tow hitch installed on the vehicle.

- even more years ago (1973!) I bought a generic tow hitch (from Sears!) to
install on my 1972 Maverick. It didn't fit properly, but I was lucky enough to
have Wil Schuemann as an officemate, who welded-it-to-necessary-length, plus
welding on 2 triangulation braces. Trouble-free towed gliders with that
car/hitch until I sold it in 2009!

- ~2000-ish I installed a generic hitch on my eventual-wife's 1987 4-banger
Mustang which she used for several years to tow a 1-26, including to/from Air
Sailing (NV) and Dalhart (TX) from eastern CO. Health forced her to sell the
1-26 ~6 years ago; the 'Stang's original engine/tranny/running gear are
presently returning from the moon with ~275k miles on 'em.

Bob W.

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