"Ron Natalie" wrote in message news:3f15d088$0$24566
Aviation Consumer tests resulted in ...failure occurred at 500lbs
(straight up) and 475lbs (at unspecified angle). They stressed that
tiedown
strength varies significantly by soil type.

That's not a very good recommendation. 500 lbs is hardly enough.

I agree and so did AC. I think they said a tiedown should be worth 1600 or
2600lbs.

The big question is what can we get from the best 'temporary, installable,
removable' tiedowns? And who makes/designs the best?

Fortunately, I suspect that most pilots, most of the time, are not faced
with having to use temporary tiedowns. The big fly-ins being the big
exception.

OTOH, when I used to fly soaring competitions, there was the need to setup
temporary tiedowns at many airport locations for 5 to 10 days at a time. I
managed it by first, NEVER keeping the ship assembled overnight. Obviously
a glider-only option but one that not everyone exercised. The trailers they
were stored in were beautifully engineered and it was possible to roll them
over without damage to the a/c.

I justified the daily assembly work and the risk of mis-assembly by thinking
1) Any damage means losing the comp and 2) weather is not the only risk -
cars driving around darkened airports where 50' wingspan a/c are parked in
non-standard locations are another. How often do cars hit a/c at the big
fly-ins?

Once the glider is 'in the box' (covered trailer), the question then becomes
how to tiedown the trailer. I never did have a very effective tiedown
system and too often the trailer was vulnerable but there were other
options. Leaving it attached to a vehicle is one. Parking it next to a
building and tieing off there was another. Permanent tiedowns were
sometimes available.

Many of us felt pretty secure with the bird in the box. But I always
remember pics from a comp in Chester SC back in the 70s where a mini-tornado
or downburst of sorts tore thru the line. A half dozen glider, in and out
of trailers as I recall, were thrown around thru the woods. The rest of the
line was almost untouched.