Is Charley telling us anything about A/C tie-down?

"Icebound" wrote in message
news

The standard for tricycle gear GA planes seems to be wings and tail.

Having been to my own airport, I can see that most of the tail ropes are
usually the rattiest you can find.
Besides, even if the tail tiedown holds, it does nothing to prevent the A/C
rotating on the main gear and bouncing onto the tail and back onto the nose
gear until one or the other gives way.

More than that, if the plane is allowed to rotate, the wing can generate
enough lift to break a rope or, perhaps worse, cause structural damage to the
airframe if the rope holds. Gliders are often tied down with the tail raised
just high enough for the wing to present a zero AOA for just this reason.

Glider owners often also add a front tiedown rope to the tow hook to ensure
that the nose can't raise in a wind. I suppose a tiedown to the nosegear of a
trigear plane could serve that same function, but I might talk to an A&P first.

I have also seen some innovative strap-on spoilers on parked gliders, and
even power planes as large as DC-3s, that are obviously intended to reduce the
lift on the airframe and keep the plane on the ground in high winds.


I am also wondering that even if the tail tiedown stays tight, do the forces
become great enough such that the fuse breaks at its weakest point,
somewhere just in front of the tail feathers?

Never seen it happen.

Thus I wonder if leaving the tail loose, and tieing down at the nose gear
would make more sense.

Only if you can guarantee that the wind will always be coming from the
front of the plane.


Vaughn