Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Efe Cem Elci on April 17, 2020 at 9:23am

Do you just want personal experiences/opinions? The Zenith info is as such:

http://www.zenithair.com/stolch701/fwo.html

Here's a two-man operation on the 750 STOL.

And Steve doing it alone on teh 750 STOL:

And there are some discussion threads here on the Forums as well.

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Permalink Reply by Nelson Orta on April 18, 2020 at 5:51am

Thank you!

This is very helpful.

I’ll search on the forum for fellow members’ experience with the folding wings or perhaps someone who has folding wings on his/her plane will post a comment.

Have a great day,

Nelson 

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on April 18, 2020 at 7:20am

I have zero experience with the folding wing option, but the most common comment I remember seeing on these forums is that since you have to drain the fuel tanks, it is a real hassle - so much so that it might be justifiable for someone in an area with extreme winters and wants to fold the wings once a year and store the plane at home for the winter, but not convenient enough to keep the plane at home/off-airport , transport it to the airport, and fold/unfold wings for each and every flight.

John

N750A

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Permalink Reply by Efe Cem Elci on April 18, 2020 at 10:53am

Yeah Jon definitely. I believe Zenith even goes as far as to say the FWO is not recommended for daily use.

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Permalink Reply by Perry Delano on April 18, 2020 at 9:11pm

Hi all,

Having had a small trailerable sailboat, with a roll up keel and and easy to raise mast, meant for sailing and trailering home afterward. Rigging it was still onerous to the point where one wanted to find a place to leave it with the the mast up (in or out of the water). The current folding wing design for the 701 appears as it might lead one to the same conclusion, e.g. hangering or tying down. There are videos out there of planes which are flown regularly  and stored wings folded. I have to believe there must be an efficient methodology yet to be found to do this with a 701. I hope to explore the idea once I get my plane flying. That said, it would be good to see some brainstorming of ideas on the subject. One idea I thought of to get the fuel out would be to have the tanks plumbed to a small light 12 v pump that could evacuate the fuel tanks into Jerry Cans or purpose made tank in preparation for folding the wings. Also the use of aviation safe pins rather than bolts for the connections (No aeronautical expertise to know what these would look like). Would like to hear any ideas out there. 

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Permalink Reply by Nelson Orta on April 19, 2020 at 5:30am

Thank you John, Efe and Perry!

All my concerns have been answered by your posts and have helped me decide that folding wings are not for me.

My initial thoughts about folding wings were sparked by dreams of putting the plane on a trailer and hangaring it in my metal building off our airstrip thus not needing a hangar (hard to come by at our airstrip).

It’s obviously too much of a hassle, particularly having to drain the fuel tanks for someone who likes to fly often.

That said, best option at this time seems it’ll have to be tying down and waiting for a hangar to become available.

Thanks to all, happy flying and stay safe,

Nelson 

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Permalink Reply by Efe Cem Elci on April 19, 2020 at 6:44am

I also liked the idea, especially since my interest in Zenith and kit aircraft started when I happened to drive by a dirt field close to our (now sold) summer house and thought of the possibilities. It was a good 3-3.5 hour drive there on weekends once I was able to leave the inner city, and just doing that usually took a few hours on Fridays. So I imagined getting off work, driving the five minutes to the airport and getting in my kit aircraft to fly to the summer house. Call the wife 15 minutes before my ETA, so she can drive over with the trailer and pick me up.

By the way, here's some more details on potential fuel line installation thoughts regarding the FWO.

http://www.zenith.aero/forum/topics/wing-fuel-lines-folding-wing-op...

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Permalink Reply by Nelson Orta on April 20, 2020 at 9:22pm

Very interesting info. Thanks!

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