Loading / unloading large planes alone
 

What methods do you use to loading and unload planes at your home? Soon I will have a couple of planes that will test my strength and ability to pick them up and load/unload them in my cargo van. I have no issues at the club, as I can help help from friends, but I'm on my own at my home.
I don't have have a trailer and my van sit outside so can't leave the plane there. I store the planes in a vertical rack system bolted to a wall. I considered storing them in their own wheeled cart, but it will consume much more space in my workshop to do so.
Basically the action I need to do is to pick it up from the rack and load them in the van (and vice-versa). Don't want to damage my back.
An ideas?
Thanks

Call an uber -

I dont know until I get my shop built they stay in the trailer and normally have friends at the field help get them in an out.

I have a similar situation. The planes must make it from my truck thru the back door down the hall and around two corners and then down the basement steps. A lot of it is technique. I made some practice runs with dummies made out of a couple 2x4s and some scrap plywood.

Edgar
With your A10 you might be able to get a hold of an old medial stretcher. You can raise and lower it. If you get one make sure that the device is able to release and lock with just yourself being able to grab the catch that allows the raising and lowering. I tried one but didn't get the right one so I could do it myself. Hunt around you maybe able to have one for single man operation.
My A10 is on a home made stretcher board that Dave Denison made that I got from him when I bought his Gen 3. It doesn't raise or lower. I am getting fairly good at finding the balance point when I am picking up the model at my home shop to move to my trailer. It is easier and less weight to remove the complete tail section. I have all power bus connections on my unit, so it is just a mater of disconnecting the one connector and the two bolts that hold the tail on and the tail is off. It is still plenty wide even with the nacelles on, but a little more manageable with that big tail removed. As you say when I am at the field am always at the mercy of kind friends to help me move this big mammoth when I need a hand.

Good luck. Hope you find a system that works for you.

AKB

So for similar situation I have made a special cart using foldable scaffold and big tires from harbor freight so I could use it with big and long but not very heavy stuff. So just make a shaft truth the two front legs and install the two wheels not too low so no need to extend the back legs you can cut the front ones a bit than make plywood deck on top of the scaffold with the desire with and make something to secure the jet like the Velcro stripe than make some handles so you could use the platform as a wheelbarrow ,maybe sure that the plywood is skewed to the scaffold,load the jet on the deck and go ,this should go backwards up the stairs and truth doors,maybe this will help.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f26ac5af36.png
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...8862c72922.png

How easy is the access between where you park your van & your workshop?

Easy, wide access or do you have to go through narrow, single doorways?

Do you have to climb stairs or can you wheel a trolley between van & workshop?

Thanks for the ideas. I was looking for a strecher, but have not fond a good one yet. Mya be able to go with the cart suggested.

Very easy. i can backup the van to about 10 feet where the planes are

No obstructions. All within my garage

A trolley could work.
My situation is that I will have a CARF SU-30 and a Mibo A-10 stacked one over the other in a rack. I need to be able to load/unload from rack to trolley and the load/unload to van. I'm not sure yet how easy (or hard) it will be to do these operations depending on plane weight and where exactly I can hold it without breaking something.
I need to finish install turbines on the CARF, and I'm a couple of months out of getting the Mibo finished by my builder, so still have a few weeks to figure it out.

Make your own "stretcher" with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/puppykitty-Hy...%2C201&sr=8-27

Build a board to go underneath it with some casters. You can raise and lower it to the necessary level and slide planes on and off.

Yes, that could work. Travel seem to be 15 inches, which is not that much.
Here is another one I'm considering: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...6309_200696309
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...072f64c491.jpg

Just a thought: What about a pulley and rope system mounted to the roof of your van? A soft rope slipped over each end of the plane both running to a central mounted pulley would be easy to manage and build.

David

THis might sound funny but I now use a baby carriage that I have modified as a flat bed. Then I made PVC support shaped to the jets I want to carry. All interchangeable and easily attached or removed from the carriage.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...4afdc5cae.jpeg

Check this one. This will solve half of my problem (load/unload Van). Still need to get it from rack system to some kind of cart.
I can't put something like this in my roof, as I have a garage door that cover the roof when open.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f364cf864d.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...a179bcd1e3.jpg
My friend, Robert built a cradle for his fuselage with 2 wheels on the other end and a handle that attaches to the end you can see. He just pulls it out of the trailer and attaches the wings.

I work at a hospital & in the intensive care ward the patient beds have lifts above them for moving infirm patients.

Sort of like these rails in the video but they have two parallel tracks with a cross track. See pic. The hoist hangs from the
cross bar so it can move anywhere. Much lighter duty, of course. McMaster-Carr sells it.

https://www.mcmaster.com/trolley-roller-track-systems


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...8780f7a17f.jpg

A friend made a multi adjustable rack for his trailer, I'll post pics later. I plan to make one similar with wheels so I can remove
it from my trailer & wheel it around my workshop. One for your van which, when unloaded, can live in your van?

The rails is an excellent idea. Would love to see some pictures of the rack.
Thanks for the links.

A couple of pictures of the rack a friend uses.

His has telescopic legs to support the rack while loading, the 4 legs on mine will have castors with reasonable size wheels
so it can be moved around easily once it is out of the trailer. My trailer is in a secure place, I intend to use it as storage for
models as well as transport. Could something like this stay in your van?
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...7c83a29233.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...005d28c9a3.jpg

Thanks for the pictures. Let me see what I can do.