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new aircraft tie down in town

turbo

turbo

Well Known Member
i just received my http://www.stormforcetiedowns.com/ from my trip to osh and other points west. this is lookn like a great solution to the tie down issue. will give a report when i ground it and give it a good pull with the auto. thanks to tom for doing some research on a well needed tool.:)
 
That's the ones I use! Hopefully I will never find out how strong they are but storms are approaching Rockland this evening.
 
Tie down question

Have a question Turbo. First I do not have any tiedowns as I always tied my airplane at the airport and I'm still building my 7. So...

I see those hold up better on the pulling of a single direction. Would the Claw or something like such which has tri-directional holding steaks work better? The physics would seem to represent that. However i'm certainly not sure as this is why I'm asking!! Thanks for the input.
 
bob, i believe a tie down will only work in one direction, that is the direction of the rope to the tie down. the claw is located under the tie down. the S Force is 45 degree from the tiedown and 90 degree from the spikes that anchor the unit. watch the video for more info on the stormforce. youtube has some videos also. :)
 
How hard is it to get a grip on the stakes to pull them out when going home?
Maybe can pull all at once using the angle base plate as a purchase, but I'm not sure.

John
 
rjtjrt said:
How hard is it to get a grip on the stakes to pull them out when going home?
Maybe can pull all at once using the angle base plate as a purchase, but I'm not sure.

John
Click to expand...

With a lot of the "driven spike" type tiedowns, you just put your claw hammer under part of the assembly and pry it up slightly, which lifts the nearest spike. Press the part back down and the spike will be sticking up high enough for you to grab it with the hammer's claw and pull it out.

That's what I see with "The Claw" and with my EAA tiedowns.
 
Has anyone ever done a comparison test between the different types of tiedowns?

I've had those cool titanium corkscrew jobs for years and I haven't had a problem (yet)...but that blow at Oshkosh and the one at Sun-n-Fun two years ago makes me wonder...
 
Our airplane was damaged in the SnF tornado. In that situation it did not matter which type of tie down was used. An RV8 parked next to me was using the CLAW. They ripped clean out of the ground and his plane was lifted off the ground and slammed back down then pushed backwards 50 yards or so. I had a corkscrew type of tie down that did not hold either. There were a great many different varieties of tie downs used, some held, some didn't. Since that tornado, I have purchased both the CLAW and the STORMFORCE tie downs. I have used both of them on different occasions since that day.

The CLAW will work but must be installed correctly to do so. The claw must be directly below the tie down ring with the tension on the rope being pulled straight down from the tie down ring in order for the force to be applied correctly to the three stakes driven into the ground. If the CLAW is installed at an angle away from the tie down ring, the pulling force will only be applied to one of the stakes. The other two will have little to no effect. If you use this tie down system make sure to follow the directions when using them.

I am currently using the STORMFORCE. This system uses 4 stakes driven into the ground at a 45 deg angle through a piece of aluminum angle. This provides a 90 degree angle from the pulling force when the tie down is installed at a 45 degree angle from the tie down rings out away from the airplane.

It is just my opinion, so take it for what it is worth, but I prefer the STORMFORCE tie downs.
 
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Off airport tiedowns

I use a tiedown method off airport that seems to work pretty well. This only works in areas were you can dig a hole but most places off airport up here that's not an issue. I carry a small folding trenching tool and burlap bags. I dig a "T" shaped hole with the leg of the "T" pointed tword the tiedown point on the wing. Dig down 2 or 3 feet. I then fill the bags with excavated material, tie a rope around the middle of the bag and bury them in the top of the "T" creating a deadman anchor. I will typically place two of these on each tiedown point on the plane. This method has held the plane in winds over 70 mph without any sign of the anchors moving. When ready to leave I dig the bags up, dump the dirt back in the hole. I grant you at Osh they probably would have an issue this approach but in western Alaska they work great.
 
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