Yes the aircraft above was tied down with 3 of those concrete ‘boulders’ you can see in foreground. I really, really don’t know why people think that will stop an aircraft flying.
During my latter high school days, one of my classmate’s father very kindly allowed me the use of his Cessna 172 every Sunday. It was their family preference to follow their spiritual path on Sundays, and this did not involve the use of the plane. In his kindness, father thought that I would enjoy the use of the aircraft those days, and I certainly did!
The only other aircraft to reside at that runway, was a Seabee, which I never saw fly, and whose owner I never met. It was tied down several hundred feet away, across the “apron” such as it was. Both planes were tied down to stacks of patio stones, around which ropes had been tied Flintstone’s style. Nobody had ever bothered to actually hammer in stakes to make proper tiedowns. It seemed to work, for a while…
Early one morning, the lady of the farm phoned me, and with a very upset tone, stuttered out “the planes blew into each other over night, come and do something!” Uh oh, I was the last one to tie down the 172, and those Seabees are pretty dense, so if a plane was blowing around, it must somehow be my fault. Needless to say, school had to wait…
I arrived on scene to find the 172 exactly as I had left it, with the only difference being the Seabee shadowing it! The two planes were nose to nose, at ninety degrees to each other, and the Seabee wing was right over the 172 wing, without having touched it at all! The only contact was the tiedown rope of the Seabee wing, which still had the pile of patio stones attached, now took a path from the Seabee wing tiedown fitting, over the trailing edge of the 172 aileron, and straight down from there to the now swinging stack of patio stones! There was a crease in the trailing edge of the aileron, but with the weight of those concrete slabs, I was amazed that the aileron was not completely folded into the rear spar. What a relief! I had not failed the 172 and it’s owner!
The Seabee, on the other hand was in rough shape. It had obviously cartwheeled across the apron, as both wingtip floats were torn off, the wing tips curled up, and the rudder and aft fuselage damaged. The fact that the wing tip float was gone by the time it got to the 172 saved the day, as it would have really hurt the Cessna wing of it had hit.
After great effort cutting and untying tiedown ropes, and moving the 172 bit by bit, I got it out from under the Seabee, and made it a new home a safe distance away. With some delicate bending, I got the aileron looking pretty presentable. I retied the Seabee patio stones, lest it come to even more harm.
The 172 received the required inspection to assure that the aileron control system had not come to harm, and it was fine. The Seabee sat there for some time in it’s damaged state, with my knots in the tiedown rope, and then one day was gone. It sure did not fly out!
http://www.spyrabase.co.uk/product_info.php?ID=10504
And we use it in conjunction with straps as we have had problems in the past with peoples ability to tie knots.
I got laughed off the field when I first turned up with them but so far (3 winters) we haven’t had a problem and in that time one aircraft got blown over and another got moved 15 feet.
Cripes transair have a hell of a mark up.
I think they are a big variation on those. The ones I use are 3 feet long and they must be about 8 inch in diameter. But I am sure they don’t work as well when the soil is waterlogged.
What I can never understand is why so view UK airfields don’t adopt the american system of a large 1 inch steel cable 100 metres long onto which you then chain your aircraft to.
The problem is getting a deep enough stone-free place to screw in far enough. For a long term grass tie-down a concrete slab would be good IF BURIED a few feet deep and connected to the surface by a chain.
From that incident the most important part of an aircraft to tie down (into wind) would appear to be the propeller.
And also not have a control lock that locks the elevator in the full nose up position.
On the useless jerry cans full of water tie down method, I’ve always wondered why people bother with that. One under each wing – but think of it – I can easily lift both of them at the same time, and the aircraft tied down with these things can easily lift me and three other persons. It should be pretty obvious they are no use. (There have been incidents of low wing aircraft taking off with the old “concrete block” tiedown still attached).
It was absolutely vicious and caught me totally by suprise. He was however doing as trained i.e. power checks into wind no matter how inconvenient and no matter how light the wind is. It’s a very “UK thing” I suspect.
Don’t bet on it. When I was living in the US, I was once working on our C140 in our mechanic’s hangar at Galveston and was blasted by a Supermarine Spitfire (flown by an American pilot who should have known better, having enough hours to be allowed to fly such a beast).
I was once working on our C140 in our mechanic’s hangar at Galveston and was blasted by a Supermarine Spitfire (flown by an American pilot who should have known better, having enough hours to be allowed to fly such a beast).
Sure… what I was getting at is the practice of lining up into wind for the power checks, even in very light winds, regardless of the hassle to oneself or to others. I see this almost every time I fly.
Hello,
For my planned week-long VFR trip (see here ), I’m wondering about how to secure the aircraft especially for overnight or longer stops.
This seems especially relevant to me, as both C172 of the company that I charter from suffered from a severe storm a few weeks ago, one being totally wrecked (despite both being tied-down on three spots): here
At foreign airfields, I don’t seem to be able to use their local tie-down facilities (if they have any) like I would at home. Hangar space may or may not be available.
How do I make sure my rented AC doesn’t go flying on its own while I’m sleeping?
Cheers
Patrick
