A Truck in my Driveway--Sinus Delivery

(Sequence here is from the bottom up)

By the way, "Sinus" is pronounced sin-us, not sign-us like the hole in our heads. Another Pipistrel model is the Virus, which is pronounced veer-us, and not like the little organism that makes us sick. I don't know Slovenian, but I'm sure the possible medical meanings are accidental, as well as somewhat humorous.

And so, the entire kit was unloaded into my shop. The wings have since been moved next door into my garage and the three boxes (except the one containing the Rotax 912 engine) have been unpacked. One of these boxes landed on my fingertip, smashing same, but after two weeks, it's well on the way back to normality. Now I should be ready to get busy, though I'm still gathering some of the specialized tools that are required.


Todd handles a wing by its spar while Patty lifts the other end. We were able to get everything out without too much trouble, and without damage. If the kit had been packed in a shipping container, it might have required a small army to get out of the truck.


The Sinus was packed inside the truck. I had expected a shipping container, but the kit components were packed in the trailer and were very well fastened down. Somebody did a good job of this. Wood screws had been placed directly into the wooden bed of the trailer, and there were racks to which the wings were fastened.


The truck driver phoned from nearby, needing to know which house was mine. I had him back up my road because my driveway angles a little and (having driven trucks) I know he couldn't have backed in otherwise. It worked out very conveniently. There were three of us to unload--me, Patty, and Todd, a neighbor.


The truck arrived from Denver on the morning of January 10th, 2009. I really don't know whether this same trailer was packed in Slovenia, where Pipistrel is located, and was put on the ship at Bremerhaven, Germany, crossed the ocean on the Sealand Florida (an MOL ship, and the trailer said MOL on it), came by train from Houston, and by road from Denver--or whether the contents had been repacked at some point.