Question Proper way to tie down an airplane?

[Neal]

I see and hear different stories about how to tie down your airplane, let's take the wings for example. Do you tie down with the ropes/chains vertical or forward of the wing with tailwheel tie down pulling aft? I've heard not to put tie downs forward of the wing because if your tailwheel tie down comes loose now you have slack lines at the wing.

Any tips to share for others to learn from? Best ways to tie down taildraggers and nose draggers?

 

[Waldom]

I will never tie down an airplane I am responsible for with chains. Unless you have a tensioner on the chain like the Navy uses on carrier decks, there will be slack. Watch what happens when an airplane wing is rocking in the wind due to the slack and the chain goes taught. There is no give in a chain, so the structure is hit with an instant overload.

The key here is that there should never be slack left in the tie downs. The only way the wings will rock then is if a significant wind causes the tires or landing gear suspension to compress. That is possible, but it takes a lot of wind to do it.

The correct positioning of the ground anchors is with those for the wing slightly forward and outboard of the attach point on the wing and the tail anchor aft of its attach point for the tail. There is much more load potential on the wing tie downs, so I wouldn't worry about the tail tie down failing unless there is a defect in it. This layout works for both conventional and tricycle landing gear aircraft.

 

[LAKramer1211]

So you use a slackened chain with a bungee snubber then? Or a weight hanging on the chain to put tension without cinching it too tight?

 

[Waldom]

I don't use chains. The Navy uses what I believe is a threaded turnbuckle in the chain as a tensioner. There must be some Navy folks on here that can tell us more about it.

 

[FlyBigE]

I can't speak to tail draggers. But for the "nose draggers" I was taught two different ways. At the flight school we had chains. We'd hood the chains to the wing tie down points and then pull the plane back and connect the tail tie down chain.

When using rope it was straight out to the tie down point and then snug up the tail.

Either way they should be snug but not putting a constant load on tie downs

 

[FlyBigE]

I don't use chains. The Navy uses what I believe is a threaded turnbuckle in the chain as a tensioner. There must be some Navy folks on here that can tell us more about it.

I believe you are correct. They also use a lot more tie down points and chains that GA aircraft would. They have to keep the aircraft secure on pitching and rolling decks and in very foul wx as well.

 

[Cubonaut875]

Interesting and I agree not using chains. Here is how they tie aircraft at Cubcrafters:

 

[Waldom]

Looks like there are several posters on this forum that operate Cub type airplanes.

It might be worth mentioning an alternative point on those airplanes to secure the empanage. That is through the lift handle welded to the lower longeron. That location provides a bit more of a "down" angle to the rope, is easier to access, and doesn't have the oil and grease on it than using the tailwheel suspension for this does.

Apparently Cubcrafters doesn't think securing the tail is important. I guess I'm more of a traditionalist.

 

[Neal]

It might be worth mentioning an alternative point on those airplanes to secure the empanage. That is through the lift handle welded to the lower longeron.

I observed this at Oshkosh, and at the CubCrafters booth. Interesting to see, good idea.

 

[ve6yeq]

Apparently Cubcrafters doesn't think securing the tail is important. I guess I'm more of a traditionalist.

When I last saw my Cub at CubCrafters in Yakima, there was chains on the tail:

At the local FBO, they supply ropes for tie down at the wings and tail but the quality of the ropes is somewhat questionable