Wing Construction Overview

I though it might make sense to give an overview of building the RV9 wing. Besides friends and family that are just curious about what foolishness I'm up to, there are probably some wannabe builders and maybe some folks working on the empennage and wondering about what's next. So let me try and explain what goes into building the wing.

The wings are the heart and soul of the plane and determine the mission an aircraft is capable of accomplishing. They determine (in combination with the powerplant and several other things) the take off and landing characteristics, the cruise speed, glide ratio, and lift available.

The main spar (shown in gold in the drawing and anodized to a golden color in the actual photos) supports the wing which supports the plane. Both the main spars (one in each wing) connects to the spar center section making THE main spar. Think of THE main spar as the foundation of the aircraft. There also is a rear spar (shown in gray) that runs the full length of the wing too (but not through the fuselage like the main spar). The main spar and the rear spar are connected together by ribs. The assembly begins with mounting the main spar in a stand and then assembling the pieces of the rear spar followed by riveting the main ribs to join the two spars. After the leading edges and tanks are built the skeleton is skinned with sheets of aluminum.

The fuel tank and the leading edge are both built off the wing and then attached to the wing. The leading edge is riveted on and the fuel tanks are screwed on so they can be removed in the event you need to work on the tank later. Both parts are essentally a skin and a set of nose ribs. The nose ribs need to be fitted to the skin and then are drilled and riveted to the skin. The fuel tank is more complex because there are more parts (a filler neck, a drain, a vent, a fuel line, and a float to measure the fuel level and a sender that transmits the information to the gauge in the cockpit). On top of that all of the holes in the tank need to be sealed with Proseal.

The flaps and the ailerons are constructed after the skins are attached. The flaps are used to lower the stall speed of the plane to make it easier to land the plane and the ailerons are used to bank the plane and in conjuction with the rudder, turn the plane. The wingtip is a fiberglass piece that finishes the wing.

Pretty simple, eh? Well, in concept it is simple. In practice there are hundreds of little pieces, thousands of rivets, lots of work and some head scratching to convert them from aluminum parts into a set of wings on a great cross country plane.