How NOT to tie down your aircraft

Salty

Salty

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Salty
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The worst part is, after I noticed this I looked around and almost half the planes on the pad were like this, though none as bad as this.
 
JScarry said:
What?
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Sorry, I thought it was obvious. We regularly get high winds here that could push the plane over that little chock. All three ropes are tensioned in the same direction (well, except for the tail that is already slack), so if a strong wind hits, the ropes are going to go VERY slack.

We had a plane that was tied down here destroyed from gusts earlier this year, now I know how.
 
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A pet peeve of mine was always seeing people use just one chock on a plane with a free castering nose gear..
 
I never gave it any thought. One benefit of living where we don’t have to worry about wind.
 
I don't think there exists a place you don't have to worry about strong winds. Thankfully I'm in a hangar, so they aren't a big concern.
 
Yeah, those tie downs are doing nothing. Hope they've got good insurance.
 
That tie down job looks better than the one I saw Sunday. The pilot parked on the tie down spot backwards and stretched the tie down ropes forward to the wings. If a wind came up it would have pushed the airplane halfway across the ramp before the ropes might do something, if they did anything at all. There were airplanes parked behind it too, so the plane would have hit them.
 
All the guy really had to do was push it back a little. So long as the tie down on the main points forward and the one on the tail points backward the thing isn't going to move enough to imperil other aircraft. As it is it can roll back quite a ways if the nose wheel jumps the chock.

All that said, I've left chocks in place for taxi by accident, and I didn't roll over them ever (didn't try hard either). It would take one heck of a wind to make the nose wheel jump that chock.
 
steingar said:
All the guy really had to do was push it back a little. So long as the tie down on the main points forward and the one on the tail points backward the thing isn't going to move enough to imperil other aircraft. As it is it can roll back quite a ways if the nose wheel jumps the chock.

All that said, I've left chocks in place for taxi by accident, and I didn't roll over them ever (didn't try hard either). It would take one heck of a wind to make the nose wheel jump that chock.
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Seriously? Not sure why you think a plane needs to be tied down at all if the wind can’t push a plane up 2” of a 45 degree chock.
 
People have all sorts of way to use chain tie down just as bad.
 
Above all else it just looks sloppy.. not very "ship shape"
 
I really wish proper tie down techniques were taught during primary PPL training. It was definitely not covered when I got my PPL. When I bought my plane I watched a bunch of YouTube videos to figure it out. It’s a really important part of flying.
 
AlphaMike said:
I really wish proper tie down techniques were taught during primary PPL training
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I really wish a lot more things were taught, like buying your own gas, etc

a lot of time is spent on the test standards, which is understandable, but there should be some focus as well on just practical overall plane ownership and rental
 
Tantalum said:
I really wish a lot more things were taught, like buying your own gas, etc

a lot of time is spent on the test standards, which is understandable, but there should be some focus as well on just practical overall plane ownership and rental
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Who’s going to teach the cfi?
 
steingar said:
It would take one heck of a wind to make the nose wheel jump that chock.
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Not really. The wind from the front starts lifing the wing. Since the mains are behind the center of lift, the nose rises, or at least gets very light. Trying to taxi over a chock involves a different set of factors, like the thrust pulling the nose down fairly hard as the chock resists forward motion, and no wind over most of the wingspan.

I never trusted just nose-chocking. Both mains.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Not really. The wind from the front starts lifing the wing. Since the mains are behind the center of lift, the nose rises, or at least gets very light. Trying to taxi over a chock involves a different set of factors, like the thrust pulling the nose down fairly hard as the chock resists forward motion, and no wind over most of the wingspan.

I never trusted just nose-chocking. Both mains.
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I’ve always found it fairly easy to taxi the nose wheel over a chock.
 
I was we could teach CFI's running over square is not bad and LOP operations are normal, and other old tales that keep getting passed down.
 
NordicDave said:
I was we could teach CFI's running over square is not bad and LOP operations are normal, and other old tales that keep getting passed down.
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Are you kidding? None of my CFI's even had me touch the mixture for anything but shutting down the engine.
 
Full rich all the time. Over 5K the red knob got a pathetic half turn to left

Now I lean that thing on the ground so it won't even run over 1,500 rpm!
 
AlphaMike said:
I really wish proper tie down techniques were taught during primary PPL training
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I remember being very nervous about tying the plane down for my second lesson. After my first lesson, my CFI told me I would be taking care of this from now on. So I went home, found a pair of old shoe laces and started practicing...

For the rest of my training (and to this day since we still don't have a hangar), learned to tie down properly.

Although sometimes when I tie down to a concrete tie-down I forget to take the tie-down off... https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...k-off-with-concrete-tie-down-attached.128711/
 
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Deelee said:
I remember being very nervous about tying the plane down for my second lesson. After my first lesson, my CFI told me I would be taking care of this from now on. So I went home, found a pair of old shoe laces and started practicing...

For the rest of my training (and to this day since we still don't have a hangar), learned to tie down properly.

Although sometimes I do just tie down to a cinder block. Sometimes I even remember to untie prior to takeoff...
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Cinder block? That’s about the weight of 5 gallons of gas. Easier to just fill the tanks. Not sure how that helps any though.
 
Where did you people learn to fly and not figure out how to buy gas or tie down an aircraft before taking a check ride? Your instructors dropped the ball big time.
 
High winds at North Las Vegas. The “S” hook on the chain straightened out, I guess he didn’t know to use the hook. I’m glad my plane was two spots away.
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Tarheelpilot said:
Where did you people learn to fly and not figure out how to buy gas or tie down an aircraft before taking a check ride? Your instructors dropped the ball big time.
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Part 141 school where the line guys parked and filled the plane with fuel. It's a bit embarrassing to admit now that I think about it, but I flew for a few years without ever touching a self-serve pump or using a towbar.
 
DogoPilot said:
Part 141 school where the line guys parked and filled the plane with fuel. It's a bit embarrassing to admit now that I think about it, but I flew for a few years without ever touching a self-serve pump or using a towbar.
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That’s a real disservice. I’m sorry you experienced that level of training
 
DogoPilot said:
Part 141 school where the line guys parked and filled the plane with fuel. It's a bit embarrassing to admit now that I think about it, but I flew for a few years without ever touching a self-serve pump or using a towbar.
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I have never done either of those things. Price I pay for using an FBO with wet rental. Call the fuel truck, they fill it up. Parking at tie downs doesn't necessitate the use of the tow bar. Instructor did show me the basic knot, but most of the tie downs use a metal slip fitting for setting rope tension as well. No shame in not having done self serve fuel, there just hasn't been a need for it. If I were flying a dry rental or a personally-owned aircraft it would be a different story.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
That’s a real disservice. I’m sorry you experienced that level of training
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That’s on the CFIs for not filling the knowledge gaps away from home base. I learned out of a bravo and fueling was (still is as I still fly club aircraft out of there) done for us. Although we did hand tow the planes out and back in. I didn’t learn how to use a self-serve station until after gaining my ticket. So yeah ... that’s a thing. CFIs: teach your students how to be self-sufficient.
 
MauleSkinner said:
I’ve always found it fairly easy to taxi the nose wheel over a chock.
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Y’all realize different planes have different characteristics?
I’ve never seen a corporate jet tied down for example, only chocked.
Personally I don’t like the knot used by most, I prefer a nautical knots.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Where did you people learn to fly and not figure out how to buy gas or tie down an aircraft before taking a check ride? Your instructors dropped the ball big time.
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Because it’s (fuel ) not required for the check ride. Tie down isn’t but I didn’t get my temporary certificate until the plane was tied down.
How many have completed PP without going to a towered airport or vice versa?
 
Salty said:
Cinder block? That’s about the weight of 5 gallons of gas. Easier to just fill the tanks. Not sure how that helps any though.
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Well, the difference being that the gas is in the wings, which are held off the ground by a round thing meant to roll and reduce friction with the ground (a cool invention from a couple years ago called a "wheel"). The concrete block is on the ground, creating lots of friction, and no wheel to help it move.

Or...was this another subtle joke?
 
MuseChaser said:
Well, the difference being that the gas is in the wings, which are held off the ground by a round thing meant to roll and reduce friction with the ground (a cool invention from a couple years ago called a "wheel"). The concrete block is on the ground, creating lots of friction, and no wheel to help it move.

Or...was this another subtle joke?
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I’m not sure the wind cares. Not much friction when it’s lifting straight up.
 
Getting self-service fuel was something I never did until after getting my private. Probably should have asked my CFI to show me how, but I guess it never dawned on me that it would be that difficult. Which it isn't. The first long-ish XC I took after private was to an airport with self-service pumps. So I taxied to the pump, shut down the engine, threw a chock under the wheel (I think it was the nosewheel...), put my card in the little slot-thingy, clipped the ground wire to the exhaust stack (oh, this could be whole new debate topic for PoA!!! Like high vs. low wing! Exhaust or tie down grounding!), took the cap off, verified it was 100LL, and..... pumped gas into the tank. Then I did the same for the other tank.

Never really thought about the fact that I wasn't taught how to do it. Since it is really similar to putting gas in a car.
 
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