Tie-down winter hazards

We had 5-6 inches of snow last Thursday followed with a mix of
rain/freezing rain on Saturday. We went to the airport on Sunday
arming with shovels, snow brushes, isopropyl alcohol sprayer etc. Right
after entering the gate, we glanced at the ramp and was alarmed to see
the other Cardinal on the ramp in a tail-down, nose-up position. A
quick survey of the tie-down area indicated that this was the same
predicament for all high-winged planes with nose wheels. The heavy
weight of the snow and ice pushed the tails down with the tailcone and
horizontal stabilators glued down to the pavement by a heavy layer of
ice. Of course, we found our poor bird in the same noseup position.
All the tools which we brought along came handy for the rescue mission.
After gingerly lifting up the heavy sheet of ice off the stabilators,
I breathed a sign of relief to see the plane got back to the
nosewheel-down position. A careful inspection of the stabilator,
tailcone and tie-down ring did not reveal any damages.
We had thought of this potential problem and had planned to put a
tire around the tail tie-down ring but the winter snuck in before we
remembered to do so. A careful survey of all tie-down planes in the
ramp revealed one unaffected high-winged plane with nose wheel. Rick
pointed out to me that this plane was pushed farther back to its
tie-down spot such that the tie-down rings were located in front of the
wings and tail. The tension of the ropes were what held the plane in
the nose-down position inspite of the snow/ice weights. Rick told me
that our intructor, Bud Struck, an experienced tailwheel pilot
originally from B.C. had told him that it was the way to tie-down the
plane during the winter! Our last flight was the one where we
experienced icing condition due to an unexpected encounter with
freezing rain. Needless to say, we were so relieved to get back to the
ground all in one piece. Ensuring proper tie-down was the last thing
in our mind!!
This was another winter operation lesson for us. Luckily it was a
cheap lesson. Except for a good 2 hours or so of careful and tedious
work of removing ice and snow off the plane and tie-down area, nothing
seemed to be damaged. Hope that the weather will clear up in the next
few days for a check-out flight. You can bet that we will spend quite
a bit of time in preflight inspection before a takeoff attempt.
Hai Longworth

wrote:

We had 5-6 inches of snow last Thursday followed with a mix of
rain/freezing rain on Saturday. We went to the airport on Sunday
arming with shovels, snow brushes, isopropyl alcohol sprayer etc. Right
after entering the gate, we glanced at the ramp and was alarmed to see
the other Cardinal on the ramp in a tail-down, nose-up position. A
quick survey of the tie-down area indicated that this was the same
predicament for all high-winged planes with nose wheels. The heavy
weight of the snow and ice pushed the tails down with the tailcone and
horizontal stabilators glued down to the pavement by a heavy layer of
ice. Of course, we found our poor bird in the same noseup position.
All the tools which we brought along came handy for the rescue mission.
After gingerly lifting up the heavy sheet of ice off the stabilators,
I breathed a sign of relief to see the plane got back to the
nosewheel-down position. A careful inspection of the stabilator,
tailcone and tie-down ring did not reveal any damages.
We had thought of this potential problem and had planned to put a
tire around the tail tie-down ring but the winter snuck in before we
remembered to do so. A careful survey of all tie-down planes in the
ramp revealed one unaffected high-winged plane with nose wheel. Rick
pointed out to me that this plane was pushed farther back to its
tie-down spot such that the tie-down rings were located in front of the
wings and tail. The tension of the ropes were what held the plane in
the nose-down position inspite of the snow/ice weights. Rick told me
that our intructor, Bud Struck, an experienced tailwheel pilot
originally from B.C. had told him that it was the way to tie-down the
plane during the winter!

I disagree. If you move the airplane back such that all tiedowns are in
front of the attachment rings on the airplane, then this means that you
better have the wheels locked into position or the wind will be able to
move the airplane forward allowing slack into the tiedowns and allowing
the airplane to be jostled to and fro by the wind. Having snow and ice
on the tail dropping the tail to the ground is no big deal and doesn't
hurt the airplane at all. Having loose tiedowns that allow a strong
wind to cause appreciable movement of the airplane against the tiedowns
is a recipe for trouble. The impact force of the airplane getting
momentum against the tiedown is a recipe for a broken tie down rope and
then you are in real trouble.


Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:

Having snow and ice
on the tail dropping the tail to the ground is no big deal and doesn't
hurt the airplane at all.

Most of the time. The tiedown for my old 150 was made of angle iron embedded in
concrete. One year I had apparently parked it with the tail directly over that
iron just before a snowstorm. When the tail went down, the iron punched right
through the bottom of the rudder. I installed one of those "illegal" fiberglass
replacements from Stene (the subject of another recent thread) and piled a
couple of old tires over the angle iron. Problem solved.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

Matt,
I did a search on snow damage and found this posting by C J Campbell

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...2?dmode=source

in which he described broken tailwheel and damaged tailcones due to
heavy snow.

We always put wheel chocks to prevent our plane from rolling either
way. In seeing the only cessna 172 on the ramp with nosewheel down
having tiedown ropes sloping forward convinced us that we should tie
down our plane the same way during winter months.

wrote:

Matt,
I did a search on snow damage and found this posting by C J Campbell

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...2?dmode=source

in which he described broken tailwheel and damaged tailcones due to
heavy snow.

A broken tailwheel on a tricycle gear airplane? I thought the
discussion was about a C-172.

Matt

Matt,
No, CJ reported seeing damages due to heavy snow to both types of
planes with tailwheel broken off from a C140 and several tricycle
planes with tailcone damage.

wrote:

Matt,
No, CJ reported seeing damages due to heavy snow to both types of
planes with tailwheel broken off from a C140 and several tricycle
planes with tailcone damage.


I missed the 140. Yes, you don't want to have hard pointy objects under
the tail, and if you have a fragile tailwheel you need to take
precautions, but my Skylane had 2' of wet snow on the tail one time with
no ill effects. It made it really easy to check the air pressure in the
nosegear tire! :-)


Matt