In October 2005, I was contacted by
a man associated with an Everett hotel. He in turn had been
referred to me by Dave Waggoner, Paine Field Airport Manager. The
hotel owner was remodeling the hotel and wanted to adopt an aviation
theme. He had the idea of installing an airplane wing over the
entrance as a canopy above the drive. Did I have any ideas?
Fortuitously, I had two 727s being parted out - disassembled -
scrapped at that time at Paine Field. The hotel owner came to
visit me in Hansville, together with his architect and a civil
engineer. I had done some preliminary research. We
explored the various alternatives and challenges.
The wing
Following this meeting, I conducted
various feasibility studies, researched the wing structure, and arrived
at a two post mounting scheme. I calculated lift and drag loads,
and column bending moments for the UBC design conditions, and
evaluated the wing's orientation relative to the prevailing high wind
directions. I suggested a contractor, my good friend Jeff
Akridge of Columbia Pacific Aviation in Moses Lake. I had worked
with Jeff for many years and greatly respected his amazing
capabilities. In addition, Jeff was scrapping out these two
airframes. After further consulting with the architect and
engineer, the County Building Department, and working up cost estimates, the hotel owner decided to proceed.
Inboard support plate and column --- Support Arms --- Support Arm Attach Brackets
I modeled the support system after
the passenger loading bridge at the Edmonds Ferry Landing. I
spend many hours on the dock there waiting for the ferry, and copied
the central column, plate, and four support arm scheme. The arms
put major loads into the wing's major strength areas - the front and
rear spars, with the plate picking up the lower inspar skin and ribs.
We picked the area in the vicinity of the wing jack point, a
known high strength location. A lot of study had to
be done with regard to the cut line and how to handle the landing gear
location, especially, the main landing gear support beam, and the
inboard flap inboard jackscrew location. Eventually, the wing was
cut along the side-of-body line, and the flap jackscrew was retained,
as were the landing gear doors. Jeff did a tremendous job -- as
usual !
My Ferry Dock Model
Support structure attached to the wing --- Inboard and Outboard
The first week in May 2006, the newly
fabricated support plates and arms were installed, the posts were set
at the hotel, and, on May 4, the wing was successfully moved to,
and installed at the hotel location. The 727 has a flexible wing,
and there was a lingering concern throughout the project that the wing
would have a pronounced sag in the
middle. This never occurred.
Support columns at Hotel --- Jeff Akridge (in orange) and his great crew
Four point lift and movement to flatbed truck
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Arrival at the hotel, and craning into position
Yes, it fit ! Jeff knows how to measure !!!
Although it's always sad to see a beautiful flying machine end its flying days and get scrapped, in this case, at least,
The Wing Flies On !
The Wing from the Hotel, after completion.
You can
visit the 727 wing at the Everett Best Western Hotel, 10210 Evergreen
Way (Highway 99) on the west side of the road, just north of the
Evergreen Mall Way cutoff. It's been renamed the Navigator Hotel.
The wing
My Ferry Dock Model
