LAKEPORT — Paul Loewen, owner of Lake Aero Styling and Repair at Lampson Field, recently assisted an Australian man with dismantling and shipping a plane.
Loewen, whose shop has been at Lampson Field for more than 36 years, was contacted by Hamish Ramsay after he purchased a 2008 Mooney aircraft from an aircraft dealer in Florida for a customer in northern New South Wales, Australia.
Loewen”s wife, Shery said Mooney aircraft are single-engine, four-passenger airplanes that are known for being speedy and efficient. Loewen”s shop is a Mooney service center, specializing in maintenance, repair and parts for the aircraft.
Ramsay is the owner of Ramsay Aviation, based in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. He wanted to ship the plane to Australia in a shipping container and contacted Loewen to dismantle it. Loewen said his shop had assisted Ramsay, a friend of his of more than five years, last year.
“The year before, we had helped him bring a similar plane from Australia to the United States,” Loewen said. “It was no surprise that he had made a sale and needed to get a plane from the United States to Australia.”
Loewen said Ramsay”s plan was to have the plane flown from the East Coast to Lakeport, where it would be dismantled, placed in a shipping container, trucked to the Port of Oakland and put on a cargo ship to Australia.
Assisted by his crew of four, Loewen said the dismantling process took approximately one week before Hamish arrived on March 6. The job was finished on March 11.
“It”s not an easy procedure,” Loewen said. “The process would be overwhelming to the average shop, but we specialize in this type of aircraft.”
He said the wing needed to be detached from the airplane fuselage, which involved unfastening hydraulic lines, rivets and bolts. Detaching the tail section was much less involved, he said.
“The tail section unbolts with four bolts,” Loewen said. “It was easily handled.”
He said Ramsay assisted in dismantling the wing so he could know how to put it back together.
“Every aircraft is unique the way it”s equipped,” Loewen said. “This one had a great deal of avionics and wiring. We let him label the wiring so he could hook it back up correctly (in Australia).”
Loewen said the experience of reassembling Ramsay”s dismantled airplane the previous year gave his crew clarity.
“The crew remembered from a year ago that too much was disconnected, which made more work,” he said. “It was a much more streamlined experience (this time).”
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
