Tie downs

[facthunter]

I made my own with triangular plates with a stainless spike driven into the ground at an angle from each corner. Being at an angle to each other they lock into the ground very firmly if you don't pull them out one by one. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

I have just seen a hangar built with footings like Nev posted above. four pipes driven through a base at about 45 degrees. Designed for cyclone country and better than concrete to put in.

 

I made screw in type with a 9mm rod and a round plate cut and twisted welded to the rod. OK except in dry conditions, when it was hard to get started.

 

 

[alf jessup]

I use this type of tiedown which came with the plane, recently on my trip to Ayers Rock I had no issue screwing them in to the hard red earth at Broken Hill & William Creek

 

Was blowing consistently around 40kts at Broken Hill in the way up and they never loosened a bit.

 

Need a little effort screwiing them right down but very secure, had the ropes splayed slightly forward & towards the wing tip side to the tie downs.

 

Proved their worth to me

 

 

[VFR Pilot]

I bought a set of FlyTies, the seem pretty good. Haven't tried them in a strong wind though.

 

 

[robinsm]

[ATTACH=full]61469[/ATTACH]I use this type of tiedown which came with the plane, recently on my trip to Ayers Rock I had no issue screwing them in to the hard red earth at Broken Hill & William CreekWas blowing consistently around 40kts at Broken Hill in the way up and they never loosened a bit.

Need a little effort screwiing them right down but very secure, had the ropes splayed slightly forward & towards the wing tip side to the tie downs.

 

Proved their worth to me

Went through 2 sets of these in short order, Useless in hard ground, the screw part snaps off leaving you with a tent peg. I used the star picket idea and never had a problem in 6 years.

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

I recently ordered & received the “Big Srew tie down” the 18 inch screws & tie down straps & attachments look strong enough to use on a Dash 8, haven’t used it yet, will post update when back in Bne.

 

 

[ISA]

Don't buy one of these.I broke the head off one peg ( brittle aluminium) and the plastic spanner slips on the head if ground is hard....

[ATTACH=full]61427[/ATTACH]

I've got this set, I use a ring spanner, never had any problems wth mine. Haven't found any tie down sets that are perfect, they are all a trade off

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

There was a review of tie downs about 12 months ago in ? what magazine. The only two conclusions that I remember were that a) The Claw was not very good and b) the tie downs that the Boy Scouts make and supply to pilots visiting Oshkosk are great. No description of said Boy Scout tie-downs was given, however.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Scout peg -

 

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

Scout peg -[ATTACH]61502[/ATTACH]

Thank you for that. Looks like there is compromise afterall. Those look heavy.

 

What is the utility of the bent bit at the top, except as something to grab onto to twist and pull to get it out of the ground? It looks like it would just add weight. It would stop the rope being parallel to the axis of the peg, but you could achieve that by banging it in at a angle.

 

 

[OZJohn]

Obviously made from broken hay rake tines - spring steel.

 

John.

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

Obviously made from broken hay rake tines - spring steel.John.

Oh. Then those might have just been chopped off some disused farm machinery.

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

 

 

 

[Carbon Canary]

Made myself a set of 'Boy Scout' tie-downs over the weekend using the image in this thread as a guide.  I too had read the article in the "Australian Pilot" magazine from some years ago regarding the High Sierra fly-in incident.

 

I used 10mm high tensile rebar which can be bent with a fair bit of swearing but without heat, if you try hard enough.  I imagine if anyone had a proper rebar bender it would be a piece of cake.

 

I haven't used these tie-downs in anger yet, but I like the simplicity and application of the physics involved.  That said, I hope I never find out their limitation.

 

Each peg weighs ~300g.

[skippydiesel]

Based on very little experience, a large dollop of common sense and observation of several types being used at" fly in's"

 

All the "stake" types:

• Require a good sized hammer to get into hard ground - very heavy when you take into account the hammer.
• Not much cop on sandy/loose/wet soil types
• Provide great anchorage in dense/heavy soils

The screw in's;

• Don't suit hard hard (baked/compacted) dense soils
• If have generous "flites" are good in looser/wet soils
• May require additional tools (hand/power) to put in/out - very heavy when you take this into account
• Provide great anchorage in light/loose/sandy soils

Claw types:

• Yeah! ???? Best viewed as a marketing exercise.
• The potential customer should always remember the securing (resistance to movement/removal) qualities all  fixing "devices" are to a large extent, limited by the characteristics of the material providing the anchorage.

Home made;

• Tend to be overengineered/ heavy
• May not take into account the materials functional strength/characteristics
• Usually require something like a lump hammer to put in and a tyre leaver to remove
• Often overly large (volume/weight)

 

All systems are best used at an angle to aircraft tie down point and the minimum of 3 should be placed so as to appose each other ie you don't want the lift forces acting vertically on the ground tie.

 

Have yet to see a system that comes close to meeting all possible soil conditions.

 

For my money the light weight,  HT metal screw in's, with sizeable flights and a large  lever "eye" that can accommodate a piece of wooden  dowel as a handle, are the best compromise.

 

Just because its sold through an aircraft accessory store or has an aeroplane on the front cover, is no reason to pay ridiculous extra dollars.

 

[Carbon Canary]

Oh, and total cost for the home-made boy scout tiedowns was ~$6.........for the beer afterward.

[walrus]

ground grabba screw ins - worked on dry hard surfaces at innamincka just fine. 10mm hex head takes a sparkplug socket - a j a box wrench and crossbar work fine. I use light spectra for the tiedown.

 

https://groundgrabba.com.au/

Edited February 7, 2023 by walrus

[Old Koreelah]

A perennial problem for aircraft; except for rotorcraft, the plurry wing will always be a liability when parked.

For low wing aircraft, I like the idea of being able to retract the wheels to allow it to squat on the ground, reducing the wind’s lifting force. Dig a hole for the wheels? Some people mount a lump of timber along the wing to kill lift.

[rodgerc]

I’ve just acquired 5 of these US army aluminium tent stakes, 12m of 8mm polyester rope and an 8oz SCA ball-pein hammer in a draw string bag. Total weight = 1.63 kg

[Old Koreelah]

It occurs to me that if we have to carry the extra weight of a hammer, perhaps it should have more than one function; mounted in cockpit ready to smash through perspex?

[Carbon Canary]

Passenger management ??

[pmccarthy]

Also for clearing blockages by hitting the cocking handle of your Vickers machine gun.

[FlyBoy1960]

Cant beat the original screw it's from JG3, Still have a set, they wont die.