Container shipping a plane
What follows is my recounting my recent Transatlantic shipping of a damaged plane, in a container. Though I realize this is specialized, low frequency event, I want this information to reside here, simply so someone searching in the future will be able to find it and be able to benefit from my experience. To be truthful, I don't expect most readers to read all of this, but it's a record for the future....So, comments are certainly welcome. I do understand that this is kind of a dead end thread topic. However, if you have your own tale of shipping a plane, we'd be delighted to hear your experience!
NOTE: The following is my experience, with advice from others, as I will present it. This was a first/onetime experience for me, I cannot assure that the experience nor equipment (the container itself) would be the same for the next person, so do your planning. But I hope this tale helps you in knowing what questions to ask....
Word came to me that a Teal amphibian in England had been damaged, my interest was piqued. I inquired a bit, and realized that it was not going to be repaired, and to see it go for scrap would be a shame, for a rather rare type. So, those "friends" we all have, talked me into bidding on the salvage from the insurer. I won the bid! It felt like the dog must feel, when he chases the car down the road, and the car stops for him - now what? Oh, and by the way, it's November, and they would rather the bent plane not tie up hangar space, desired for a plane which would actually come and go, would I kindly take away my prize...
So, a container would be needed, I started asking advice. I got some, though surprisingly little. I did find a delightfully helpful fellow in Toronto, in the business of "logistics" and he could make the required container arrangements. Ultimately, 100% service from him, highly recommended!
But information on the actual details of loading an odd cargo into a container was few and far between. Three things conspired to greatly complicate this operation: I was told that I would have two hours from container arrival at the airport, to its being driven away, to load it. I had never before seen the inside of a container, so I did not know what hooks and hardpoints are available to tie the plane's parts in. I was warned that some containers have none, and the cargo must be braced in with timber. And... the arrival of timber into Canada is strictly regulated for invasive bugs. Only certain timber qualifies, and it is not easy to obtain. I inquired in advance, and your local English timber merchants do not sell it.
So, at worst, I would have to load a plane in pieces, and design and execute its security in two hours! Well, that is unrealistic! So, I had to eliminate unknowns, this was my first time. To have the container delivered and "left" for two days would cost an extra $900. Yes, I would have to do that, to have the time, to load and secure. That was $900 well spent. I was told that I could not have the container set off the trailer on the floor, so I would have to lift everything up to load it. I knew that I would not have a fork lift, nor crane. But three engine hoists lent to me did the job slow and easy.
The container arrived. It was very kindly allowed into the hangar, so all my work was indoors. Excellent, accommodating driver. Ahhhhh, it had lots of tiedown points welded in along the floor and ceiling. Timber cribbing inside would not be required. Instead, I bought out all the ratchet straps from the local timber store. They were perplexed at my bulk purchase, and entertained by my explanation. The container also had a wooden floor. I had been told, and confirmed with the driver, that I could screw into the floor to secure things, as long as I did not wreck the floor, or put holes "that you could see daylight through". So I also purchased super lag screws for this purpose.
I had found in the hangar, a lonely pallet (we call them "skids" in Canada), which bore a burned in brand reading "CN-124 HT-44-DB". Before leaving Canada, I had called the proper government authority, to ask how to select timber which complied with the requirements for import to Canada. I truly do not want to be the guy who imports bugs to kill more of our beautiful forests. My main question was, would the very common "pressure treated" timber found in England be acceptable. No, it would not. Any wood products either had to be composite, like plywood or chip board, or marked as having been heat treated. So the code branded into the skid was promising - I decoded the "HT" part to mean heat treated. The shipping logistics fellow warned me severely that if I got that wrong, and non conforming plank timber was found in the container during Canadian inspection, the container would be held for fumigation, and I would have a large bill to pay. So, I aimed to keep my use of any wood product to a minimum. I used that pallet, and only a few other particle board spacers.
The Teal has a pylon mounted engine, which is secured to the top of the fuselage at three bolt through fork fittings. I welded up three bolt down plates with required angled tabs, and holes, so I could screw them to the pallet. Then, I would mount the pylon to the pallet as though it was the top of the fuselage, and just slide the pylon/engine/propeller into the container whole. I reasoned that then the engine and prop were happily sitting in the engine mount, as intended in their design, and would best withstand travel forces. The fuselage happily sat on the floor of the container on its gear legs, with the wheels and axles removed to wit the width, so supporting the fuselage was no concern.
My challenge was that I did not know what the forces which could reasonably be encountered in transit would be. Many people gave me varying advice, but not with values. I found some web information in a table from the International Maritime Organization. The summary of that was rail could cause 4G forward/backward, and 1/2G sideways. Road could cause 1G forward/backward, and 1/2G sideways. And sea could cause a maximum of 0.8G in any direction. Though I was not told so, I had to presume that the container could travel by train, and indeed, it did. I also wondered about the port crane handling of the container, but there are no force values I could find for this.
The pallet mounted engine/propeller and pylon was my vulnerable portion of the load. The engine and propeller weigh 340 pounds, so allow for 400 pounds with pylon, exhaust, cowls etc. 400 pounds X 4G = 1600 pounds force. I used 1800 pound ultimate strength ratchet straps in four directions from the engine lift lug. That arrangement provided a maximum of 2500 pounds forward/rearward/sideward, and 1800 pounds at a 45 degree angle. So 6G restraint capacity, where 4G is recommended. In hind sight, the 1” wide, 1800 pound straps worked, but I would rather have bought heavier straps.
Having received the shipment, it held. But, the straps had loosened during the transit, allowing the pallet to rip through the four screws which held it down to the container floor. Note to self, big washers for the lag screws next time. This brings to mind several thoughts about straps: they will elongate 7 to 15% as they take up their maximum capacity. It would seem that they had stretched, and not completely returned. So, if the calculations for strap capacity are getting toward their ultimate capacity value, allow for some stretch, and resulting load shift. With the stretch, and not completely returning, the hooks could have jumped off the hardpoint loops in the container, then the strap would be useless. This did not happen to me – lucky! Next time, I would wrap vinyl tape around the hook so as to close it, so it could not jump off if loose. Similarly, the ratchet could have released, so for the effort it would take, I would wrap the ratchet closed with vinyl tape too.
Otherwise, all the other parts of the plane I strapped in, stayed put well. Lots of tires, and some foam and plastic padding kept things safe. The tractor truck returned as planned to take the container away.. The driver coupled the tractor to the trailer. This included “pinning it” in which the driver engages the king pin of the trainer with gusto, to assure it latched. Suddenly, that solid steel fortress I’d been working in for two days, bounced around like a tissue box! I looked, and asked the driver to look inside. All was still okay, first test passed. He assured me my tiedown job was fine, and he’d seen a lot worse. I closed the door, and applied the sealing “bolts”. I photographed their numbers. Then I remembered that I had forgotten to photograph my loading job! Too late! Of course, as the shipment left that hangar, drawn by the tractor, I began to worry, and kept worrying for four weeks that my tiedown job was inadequate. Of course, people I discussed this with started recounting their own horror stories of shipments gone wrong. This included a friend, who told me that one of his youthful summer jobs was unloading containerized new Cessna 152’s. He said that everyone came in damaged – despite being professionally packed.
So, once it’s all packed in, stop and take a look... Would be okay with the entire container being laid on its side? Dropped on either end? If the tiedowns stretched 10%, would anything move so as to create a problem? What if it were laid on one side, then the other, a hundred times a day for a week?
From my arrival to the plane, whose wings and tail were already removed, it took me three days to load and secure to my satisfaction. I had attempted to hire out this work, but had no takers. In hind sight, I would probably not have been happy with someone who was not experienced, doing this work for me, and they would not be happy to do it. I was not experienced, applied only a small excess. A lot of luck got the plane here safely. I don’t know where one finds “pros” for this, but if they cannot be found, it might not be worth attempting at all. These decisions should obviously be made before bidding in the first place!
Though I was not specifically asked, I drained all liquids, and removed the battery from the plane.
As I was outside Canada when the container arrived, a friend had to unload it for me. I had written notes, and he told me he had no difficulty whatever. It took him 40 minutes, of the allowed 2 hours (before overtime charges).
All shipping costs included (but not my time and travel) containering the plane England to Canada cost CDN$8000, and took four weeks.
My effort was made much more easy with the kind help of the people of Modern Air, of Fowlmere. A local flier went out of his way to make it a great visit for me, and I caught up with a couple of PPRuNer's too!
Things you should consider having available to container a plane:
A step ladder (to get into the container many times, and to reach inside the container to strap to the ceiling fittings), hoists as required (or forklift/crane available s needed), lots of tiedown straps, whose capacity is at least six times the weight they will individually restrain, lots of padding, tires, foam, a measuring tape to help plan your loading, magnetic work lights to provide light in the container, tiewraps and tape for securing things, clear plastic sheet or heavy paper to protect surfaces from the straps, ¼” size lag screws and washers for screwing to the container floor, and heat treated timber and pallets as you might require.