This is a new custom slipcover made in Sunbrella fabric for a Piper Pawnee PA-25 glider tow plane.
For Elk Mountain Soaring. Morgan County, UT airport.
This plane belongs to the Elk Mountain Soaring Club and its home is the Morgan County Airport in Morgan UT. This Piper Pawnee PA-25 is about 30-35 years old and has had a number of previous owners. These airplanes were designed for aerial applications, including cropdusting. Agile, powerful and fast, they are used worldwide as GREAT tow planes for launching gliders.
Our one-piece custom slipcover protects all the fabric-coverd parts of this airplane’s tail.
We installed front and back zippers into it, with a long vertical zipper down the back of the plane’s rudder and a shorter zipper down the front of its vertical fin. Webbing and five small fastex buckles quickly secure this slipcover to the plane’s frame.
We created “bonnets” that encapsulate the tail’s horizontal stabilizers and elevators (which are always locked in a raised position when the plane is parked and tied down). Bungee cords run through casings underneath and cinch up snugly. Cord locks make all fit adjustments fast and easy.
We also stitched soft leather inside this slipcover at its very top tail area, because this is a wear point which sun, weight and gravity will take their toll on over the years.
Stan McGrew, left, with McGrew Studios’ First Hand Sara Lowry, right, during our initial patterning/drafting/draping in a plain utility fabric.
Project overseer. Hard at work.
Sara Lowry, left with Jennifer McGrew, right.