That untying tie-down ropes when the knots have frozen solid is not much fun.

(I think I'll make sure there's a useful tool in my pocket next time, even a screwdriver would have been a big help.)

A sharp knife :E

Don't you have a screwdriver bit on your fuel tester?

Most handy!

Ask santa for a book of knots for christmas (or join the Scouts), some knots are much easier to undo than others!

G

Oh, I've been a Scout, I can do knots. It's just that undoing them with bare hands when the rope has been soaked with rainwater and then frozen into the shape of the knot is not going to be easy whatever the knot.

OK, I confess, we use caribiners.

G :p

... so do all the other aircraft at this club, I wonder why that one in paticular was the only one left when I got to the airport ...

Gertrude

What do you do with the small amount of AVGAS that you sample from the fuel drains? ;)

I got caught a few years ago, in an Archer, was running through some of the internal checks, after engine start, when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Looking up quickly, I discovered that we were sliding down the icy taxiway at about 3kts, even though the parking brake was firmly on.

Power checks were fun - up and down the taxiway :}

Chuck it in the grass, no problem.

Unless of course the aircraft is parked on the tarmac at the fuel pump...

Oh, and having played with a floatplane I wouldn't be too bothered by power checks on the move!

Perhaps you could put plastic bags around them?

I think F3G is suggesting that a generous slosh of Avgas will melt the ice....and if it doesn't, the judicious application of a lit match will!

Gertrude:

Skis present a similar problem, power-check-wise. My experience was in a 180 Cub, by the time the mag check got to the "other" mag, I was already airborne!

Not having floated myself, I guess swinging the prop gets interesting from the right-hand float? (not in the Beaver, of course).

DT

This time of year is a pain in the nadgers for releasing tie downs. Never ceases to amaze me how complicated people think these knots have to be!!! Anyhoo, whenever the tie down is stuck due to ice, chances are so is the aircraft and a judicial application of de ice spray/fluid and a well placed screwdriver gets the job done.
Just dont get me started on people who think that the oil cap must be gorilla-ed on with and industrial torque wrench.

Be very careful about applying anything like de-ice fluid, oil, fuel etc to your tie down ropes. It will rot them.

I rented an aircraft in Africa and the owner supplied his tie-down kit which was not well looked after. Ropes chucked in the back of aircraft with leaking oil cans etc. Well, after I tied the aircraft down for an approaching thunderstorm, both ropes snapped in winds that the tower recorded as around 75kts.

The aircraft was of course flipped upside down and written off.