A question for the physics majors on the site

[David Paule]

Kinda funny, but he's wrong.

What happens is that if the plane's pointed into the wind, it develops lift and can start moving, usually bouncing. Then something breaks and over it goes.

If it's side to the wind, it moves enough to establish equilibrium and then is stable.

Back a while we had a bunch of airplanes get blown over here, and I examined them after the wind had decreased to about 60-70 mph with higher gusts. My profession was an aerospace stress analyst, so how they failed was of particular interest to me, and since I had my plane tied out on that field, it was personal.

One other lesson is to park at the most upwind location. Guess why.

[Danny7]

Originally Posted by David Paule

Kinda funny, but he's wrong.


One other lesson is to park at the most upwind location. Guess why.

so your plane doesn't get hit by other planes that have torn loose?

[David Paule]

We have a winner!

[Flying EMT]

The most dramatic was while it was in the hangar. I tied down even there (and still do.) In my old airport we had 2 hanger tie down incidents. the first guy tied his plane to the "tent" (aka cover-it) hanger directly. The windstorm took them both together into the woods. The second, same set-up tied his plane to the ground. The wind put the hanger 100 feet into the woods and left the plane undamaged. FWIW. -Ben