Cobalt,
Tromso – what a great place to visit. What is it like getting up there? I’d like to do it some day, just looks like a bit a long haul…
DMEarc
Thanks all. I own a heavy, low-wing type, so probably one of the less vulnerable, but I still wouldn’t want it getting loose and damaging something else. A very good illustration in that video Peter. I think I will acquire a set of stakes for grass parking.
The club where I took my first flying lessons lost a parked C150 during an overnight storm – in the morning it was found on its roof, very badly damaged and was written off.
This very nice airplane had been tied-down during the day. I know it because I did it.
Then came the storm that no-one had expected (there was even an airship outside which was completely wrecked, too).
Buy good ropes.
Buy good ropes.
A friend flying his J3 from California to the eastern U.S. coast and back tied his plane down with makeshift tie downs, then when returning in the morning found the plane was gone. Thinking initially that it had been stolen, he eventually started looking around and found it had pulled the tie downs loose, then crow hopped off the airport property and into an adjacent field! By some miracle the only damage was a slightly bent horizontal tail which he proceeded to straighten and recover on site (he’s an A&P) Having done that he flew it home and redid the repair a little more neatly. Now he says to be very careful with winds and with home made or make shift tie downs, particularly with a lightly loaded plane… And since then, thinking he’s used up all available luck for this situation, I’ve been very careful – in any kind of weather I’ll do a lot to put the plane in a hangar.
IMHO, those screw-in thingies which you screw into soil are not going to be any good. Neither are the blocks of concrete or car tyres filled with concrete – a good number of UK pilots have got airborne with them still attached.
In France you rarely find anything to tie to so the best you can do if you are parked on grass is to use those corkscrews. In Norway, Sweden and Denmark on the other hand you either find eyes flushed into the concrete, or tyres filled with concrete.
On the DA40 the eyes are located at the outboard extremity of the wing. Should the airplane become airborne, or even pull on the tiedowns, I wonder whether that could actually damage the wing given the 11 m arm to the point of attachment to the airframe.
Edit: The arm is actually about 5 m on each side
Peter wrote:
Neither are the blocks of concrete or car tyres filled with concrete – a good number of UK pilots have got airborne with them still attached.
I recall a Swedish AAIB report with a laconic comment about the unsuitability of concrete-filled tyres: “Aircraft are designed to take off with load.”
yep, it depends on the weight of the aircraft. But I never believed weight is so relative. Pictures below are not random, this is procedure at both airports for years…
this is heavy aircraft no need to tie down
make sure to tie down this small aircraft…
It’s not only weather that can be a problem.
A friend was hanging of the wing of his Cessna when the heavy Merlin rescue chopper suddenly arrived and landed close to the parked GA aircrafts.
The other day I was parked close to An ATR42 that I was told was not going to get pushed out but would turn 180 degree on it’s own power.
I always carry quality rope, big aluminium spikes and a rubber mallet.
On a hard apron I also use the car tyres with concrete. Even if the the aircraft is designed to take of with a load, any add on to the weight will also require more force to lift it.
I suppose there are two concerns with the concrete blocks. 1) will I forget it’s there and take off with it and 2) will it do the job of stopping the aircraft from blowing away?
It seems to me possible that the answer to 2) may be ‘yes’ even if the answer to 1) is ‘yes’ too. If you can stop a wing lifting a little bit, you may be able to stop it lifting a lot, such that the wind really gets under it and lifts it away. I’m sure the concrete blocks will provide some protection. The question is ‘how much’? I’d be interested to know the answer.
Incidentally you can hold a hang-glider quite happily with 1 hand in quite strong winds, despite them having as much wing area as a Cessna 152, by holding the front wires and letting the glider fly itself into the wind. If the wind tries to lift the wing, because you’re holding it at the nose, the angle of attack is decreased. All you really need to overcome is the parasitic drag and the induced drag of lifting 30kg – neither of which will amount to that much.
