Hang on I have just re-read what happened.

The other aircraft which was tied down and chocked was hand swung with the throttle full open. It then jumped the chocks and broke the tie downs and went for a taxi by itself?

The owner was lucky he is still alive.

And I would say its definately one for the safety mags.

The owner is very lucky to be alive, the mood I am in.....

Similar (although by luck no damage!) incident down here recently with a private owner turning a prop over by hand. With mags on, mixture rich, and near full power set. Owner is currently awaiting a CAAFU flight test in his PA28RT-201T...

Bose-X
havn't responded to you for a long time. Sorry to hear about your aircraft. It's funny with aircraft, when mine was destroyed just after I sold it it put me off flying for a long time - we seem to get quite attached to these things.
Hope all gets resolved soon.

I'm 12,000 miles away and can feel the heat in your replies from here bose-x, not funny :{, nor for you paulc!

In reading about Auster v Auster and lack of chocks I'm reminded of the story of 'Wagga's Auster' which is a fairly remarkable tale and a reminder of what can happen if there's nothing in the way to impede progress of a runaway machine :ooh:.

In case you've not read it before here's the slightly 'jazzed version of the true tale (makes a good story this way):

Runaway - told by Tom Ware, NSW

And here's a somewhat more accurate account with references:

Wagga's Auster

The original sites are no longer working so it's necessary to use the archives...

FP.

I've had my Robin for 30 odd years and have left it lying around all over the planet, not tied down, for the last 25 years (unless specifically asked to). Without it blowing away.

I take the view that if it's going to move it's going to move, having bits of rope on it just mean the tiedown points get damaged.

Probably different rules apply for Austers, Cubs etc

Low wings are much harder to shift with wind.

Why are we so reluctant to tie down in the UK? It's extremely rare to find a parking area with proper eye bolts, let alone the tensioned cables with sliding chains the Americans use on dirt parking. Even when you do find a tie down ring it's usually got a bit of washing line string on it as mentioned above. (Nylon rope also deteriorates - I know this through various towing escapades).

My own airfield has had more than one aircraft wrecked in blow away incidents and my own PA-28 was rotated while chocked so low wings can move if the wind is strong enough.

Now I have a 'claw' and use it if the forecast looks bad enough. I doubt if there's any real difference in the max wind possible in UK vs. US (my own garden has been ripped thro' by a tornado) so why the cultural difference in securing aircraft?