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- Feb 9, 2020
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how do people tie down using chains? and do you do it differently day-to-day vs “there’s a storm coming in”?
I’ve always thought that “a tight wing is a happy wing” otherwise a microburst could get the wing moving, build momentum, then slam up against the chain either breaking the cast metal tie down ring or damaging the wing.
My airport provides the chains and pre-attached hooks that are required to be used and, in my opinion, are not correct. The hooks are just “bent wire” rather than forged grab-hooks or clevis-hooks or even latching hooks and the eye that attaches the hook to the chain is too big to fit through the wing tie-down points so I can’t loop the chain through to get a snug tie down.
The other planes on the field mostly seem to drape the hook through the tie down ring leaving slack in the chain so they don’t have to readjust the chain for each slightly-different parking position. But that means that if the wing starts moving around, the hook may just get shaken out. Or, the microburst scenario above.
Today I saw this picture
While this is WAY better than what my airport provides and seems like it would protect against the shock damage of a light wind, it still seems non-optimal to me.
I’ve seen other discussions of using nylon webbing through the tie down ring so you don’t have a pressure point of round steel hook on round cast ring causing the ring to break, but I can’t think how to do that and meet the chain requirement of my airport.
So, I’m looking for ideas on how to improve what I have. Let’s hear your ideas and see what you’ve got!
Thanks in advance.
I’ve always thought that “a tight wing is a happy wing” otherwise a microburst could get the wing moving, build momentum, then slam up against the chain either breaking the cast metal tie down ring or damaging the wing.
My airport provides the chains and pre-attached hooks that are required to be used and, in my opinion, are not correct. The hooks are just “bent wire” rather than forged grab-hooks or clevis-hooks or even latching hooks and the eye that attaches the hook to the chain is too big to fit through the wing tie-down points so I can’t loop the chain through to get a snug tie down.
The other planes on the field mostly seem to drape the hook through the tie down ring leaving slack in the chain so they don’t have to readjust the chain for each slightly-different parking position. But that means that if the wing starts moving around, the hook may just get shaken out. Or, the microburst scenario above.
Today I saw this picture
While this is WAY better than what my airport provides and seems like it would protect against the shock damage of a light wind, it still seems non-optimal to me.
I’ve seen other discussions of using nylon webbing through the tie down ring so you don’t have a pressure point of round steel hook on round cast ring causing the ring to break, but I can’t think how to do that and meet the chain requirement of my airport.
So, I’m looking for ideas on how to improve what I have. Let’s hear your ideas and see what you’ve got!
Thanks in advance.
