The BBC article, in case it disappears…
Damn! That thing would have killed an elephant!
That’s incredible. Not the weight of a “full” concrete tire, but still.
It’s an issue for me as I travel a lot. I find it annoying when there are no tie down rings or blocks. It’s hard to imagine a wind that would move the plane with concrete filled tires, but I’m sure it’s possible. I’ve used spiral aluminum pegs, but hope for low winds.
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
It’s hard to imagine a wind that would move the plane with concrete filled tires
You lack imagination… :-)
Let’s assume a regular car tyre filled with concrete, it will weigh something between 50 and 100kg, i’d guess. You can’t easily lift it, but you can certainly drag it. Can you lift or drag your aircraft?
Just get a heavier plane. 
Seriously, one rarely sees aircraft weighing more than one ton empty being tied down. With the SR22, I don’t worry much about tying down any more if the are no tie-downs readily available. One, I don’t normally fly (or stay) where the weather is real bad. Two, tying down down (with the usual kit) really only serves to calm one’s nerves (which may well be a sufficient reason to do it), but not really 100% protect the aircraft.
With the SR22, I don’t worry much about tying down any more if the are no tie-downs readily available.
I have been next to a F33A which wanted to go on the apron at Gdansk. we had to park heavy equipment in front of it and attach concrete blocks to the wheels. Before that night I did not believe a plane would behave that way.
Once our BE33 was moved by the storm arround 4 meters, although we have had applied chocks and attached sand bags on the three tie down points. After the storm I called tower to see if everything is okay with our Bonnie and he replied: „Lucky guy, she is still on the apron.“
However it would be interesting to know, what kind of forces acted on the aircraft while it was thrown around.
