What satisifes you for tying aircraft down?
 

As I ate my breakfast at the airport restaurant this morning, I looked out over the apron. Four light aircraft which I noticed flying in last evening were now parked on there. It's a beautiful day here, so I'm sure chocks are fine today, but these aircraft are not tied down at all. If the wind comes up, the pilots won't be close at hand to rush out and tie them down.

My local airport has paved the apron, and set out nicely yellow painted concrete blocks for tiedowns, blocks whose weight I would estimate at 150 pounds each at most.

If you arrive, and would like to tie down, what satisfies you? An older Cessna POH I read states that 172 wing tiedown points should be able to withstand 700 pounds pull. Many tiedowns I have seen are not even close - are they enough? Are you satisfied?

Ooooh I was quite intrigued when I read the thread title... ;)

As I ate my breakfast at the airport restaurant this morning

Sorry I can't help regarding tie downs, but I was quite intrigued when I read what time you seem to have had your breakfast - assuming that you are indeed in Canada....:)

Jack

?

A hangar.

Attachment 875

This weighs in at 6lbs and works well, ditch the ropes for ratchet straps from Halfords if you got kicked out the scouts for your lack of knot tying skills.

Paving slabs and 25l water cans are pointless. How does another 50Kg affect the ability of an aeroplane weighing perhaps 600Kg from lifting off in the wind when it regularly does so under engine at 950? Does not compute, does it?

Loops cast into the concrete apron are probably the best if you're lucky enough to have them.

On grass lorry-spring derived screw anchors are good - you'll need a bit of cutting and welding done to make them up and soft ground to instal them but they're cheap and effective.

If you've an existing concrete apron expanding bolts with a loop head are cheap and easily fitted.

If you've several aircraft to anchor get a mini digger and dig metre deep holes and bury in each an old car tyre with a tubular braided 2 ton strop looped through it to end at ground level.
Then your Halfords ratchets just hook on - brilliant cheap easy neat solution.

Yeah, but...
Re the 6lb tie-down kit.
The 'round turn and two half-hitches' and poly rope quite often doesn't cut it under difficult conditions.
Have you tried that kit yourself, piperboy?

Been using it for the last 5 years, works well, easy to use, a pic of the kit on the minced Maule


Attachment 877

OK, thanks. :ok:

People always underestimate helicopter downwash and often play token service to what constitutes a proper tie down when "mixed operations" are required.

I was once parked on the tarmac helipad at a certain grass airfield, for a refuel. A Piper Cherokee or similar was taxied up to a position less than ten metres away and was shut down. The instructor and student got out and began walking away without tying the aircraft down. I politely asked if they were going to leave the aircraft parked there for long because I needed to depart quite imminently and we would need to lift to the hover to leave the helipad. The instructor casually said they were finished for the day and continued to walk.

I pointed out that the helicopter weighed over five tons and produced a very strong downdraught which could cause damage to their aircraft, or even lift it. The instructor very reluctantly (and grumpily) stomped back and tied a coupe of 20 litre water containers under the wings, then stomped away again....

Thankfully, I was able to lift off to a very low hover to clear the the raised edge of the helipad without causing damage.

It all depends ...

At the usual small airfield I am not a friend of Bondage, unless there is reason to assume helicopter traffic in the direct vicinity of the "apron". Many times tie-downs are little more of a joke. The typical 172 will have a rotation speed of 60 mph, so there has to be quite some wind to get into critical situations.

Chickenhouse,

I'm all too aware of the rotation speeds of light aircraft (as well as my ATPLH I hold a CPLA and was for some years an RAF SEP QFI).

As I said, many people (including light aircraft pilots) underestimate the down draught velocity of a five ton helicopter. To park next to one without tying down is asking for trouble.

There was a piper cub on floats parked up here in Angus several years back that was tied down to some concrete weights, the wind picked up and lifted a wing which moved the weight partially under the float which was damaged upon the wind easing and the wing lowering. Rather expensive to repair I'd imagine.

pb84,
I saw lots of Claw tie-downs in use when I was at Oshkosh a month ago. Very ingenious, but I wonder how much tension would be required to pull one out.

Have you tested it?

Based on the way they go in it would take enormous force to pull them out, they seem to be designed in a way that the more you pull the more they seem to clench themselves into the ground.

I was parked at Sun'n'fun during the 2011 tornado, so got to see plenty of failed tie-downs.
In one case the tie-down worked, but the wing broke!

I used fly-ties and they held well within a few yards of the path of the tornado and a few wrecked aircraft nearby (my tent got flattened and all my stuff drenched, but that was OK everything considered)

I did see one of the Claw tie-downs break across the cast steel arm, but it was tying down a Grumman Mallard at the time.

On concrete or tarmac, steel wire or chain, under it, with short lengths coming above to tye on to. Ratchet straps for riding. Seems standard in SW US.
I'm not optimistic about anything I can carry onboard and drive into the ground. It's just so I can tick YES to the Q on the insurance claim form.
I've seen two pairs of angle iron backpacked to a seacliff top, driven into soft soil, and trusted to hold by a solo guy hanging at a cave mouth, and moving himself about to examine the rock. That should work for an aircraft on soft ground.

Obviously a very optimistic pilot! I did some searching on the Claw web-site and they claim it will withstand 1200 lbs of tension. Adequate for a typical SE aircraft, but each wing of a Mallard lifting off the ground in a hurricane, would generate 4400 lbs!

$10 rope "securing" $100+000 Aircraft
 

Yes, I know that there's not much left in the wallet after buying and looking after your pride and joy:uhoh:

Climbing shops will sell you dynamic rope off a reel and a book on climbing knots;)

If you're lucky, retired climbing rope might be available.

Be wary of non locking carabiners:= They can let go in a number of mysterious ways:eek: as one Flying magazine columnist learned at the cost of two damaged aircraft.

A few years ago at Earls Colne, I was on short finals and saw someone so satisfied he was taxiing to the hold with his tail tie-down block bouncing happily along behind his 152.