This morning Jim MacLachlan (purchased partially completed RV-7A kit), Mark Richardson (built RV-8), Michel Asselin (building RV-7A) and Lee Fasken (purchased a share in an RV-6) came by the hangar to help me mount the wings. It went quite quickly, with one guy supporting the wing tip, two at the wing root (one at the leading edge, and one at the trailing edge), myself guiding the main spar into the slot, and the last guy keeping an eye open for problems. Once the wing spar was inserted, I clambered into the cockpit with a light and mirror to peer through the 7/16 bolt holes in the spar to give verbal directions to get them lined up, then I slipped two tapered drift pins in place - one in an upper bolt hole, and one in a lower bolt hole. Then I took the lubricated close tolerance bolts, and slipped them in place while turning them with a ratchet. They could be pushed about 2/3 of the way in while turning them, and the last 1/3 was accomplished with some gentle taps with a hammer, with a piece of wood between the hammer and the bolt head.

All the 7/16" bolts are inserted, but I didn't insert all the 1/4" bolts, nor did I torque the bolts yet, as I didn't have a lot of time. After both wings were on, I installed the left wing tip (three screws only), the left flap, left wing intersection fairing and the empennage fairing.


Then I took a picture that goes with the Application for Certificate of Registration. I realized that I had forgotten to bring the nav and strobe lights, the cover that goes over those lights, the landing light cover and the rudder bottom. I decided to arrange the "official" picture so the end of the wing tip was blocked by the wing tip of one of the Mooneys that are in the hangar.

However, Terry convinced me that I shouldn't send in the C of R application with this picture. She is afraid that the bureaucrats might throw the application back, complaining about the partially blocked picture, and that this might delay things by several weeks. It would be better to delay things by a few days so I can take a proper picture, with all the missing items installed.