Tie Down Pins

[murray]

Awile back there was a guy that was selling a tie down system utilizing 3 pins at each tie down points. He advertised in the Flypaper and gave a discount to 170 assoc members. Can anyone remember his name and does anyone have any comments on this system.
Murray

[Kyle Wolfe]

The company is called Flyties. Here's their web address.

http://www.flyties.com/

I bought a set and the are nicely made. Fit into a small container. A bit pricey but I bought a set since he was providing a discount to C170 members.

I also recently saw an article somewhere (sorry, I can't recall but maybe some members can help out) on a similar setup made with short pieces of chain and steel rods. Maybe in Plane & Pilot or AOPA..... Anyone else see this?

Kyle

[GAHorn]

The units I've seen consisted of 3 aluminum "pins" about 18" long, driven thru a thick disc which also held an "eye" to receive the ropes. I tested it at Reklaw by pulling up on the tie-down rope attached to it and the owner panicked and said "Stop, you'll pull it out of the ground!" (Sure, enough, it was easy to dislodge with just a hard pull on the rope.) I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would 1- expect that system to hold their airplane in a strong wind or 2- would pay over $110 for it!
I bought some 4' mobile home anchors at the local hardware store, cut the helical disc's off with a saw, and sharpened the ends. Driving one into the ground at an angle, then another immediately alongside it, so they both presented their "eyes" exactly side by side, allows one to tie a single tie-down rope thru both eyes as if they were one. (They are exactly superimposed, with the lower rods driven into the ground at divergent angles like an upside down "V". In other words drive one in like "\" and the other in like "/" so their eyes are exactly lined up with each other.)
The rope prevents one from being pulled up because of the angle against the other. /\
Untying the rope allows each rod to be pulled up easily by wrapping the rope around your waist, and lifting with your knees.
With a pair of these at each tie-down rope, the airplane is very secure and the total cost is about $30. I use a Boy Scout type hatchet as a mallet, and which doubles as a crash axe/survival tool .

[N3474C]

Bury a worn out tire in the ground with just enough sticking out to get a rope through. Cheap, and try as hard as you like and it won't come out.

Just an idea,


Chris

[zero.one.victor]

Bury a worn out tire in the ground with just enough sticking out to get a rope through. Cheap, and try as hard as you like and it won't come out.

Just an idea,


Chris

I did! After packing a pickax,shovel,and three old tires in the airplane I didn't have enough room left for my camping gear.
I made up stakes out of 3/4" EMT conduit,with a big bolt stuck in one end to hammer on. I put a 1/4" allthread cross-member just below that to keep the roped from sliding off. the idea is,to hammer the stakes into the ground out a bit from the airplane ( like under the wingtip),at an angle (top of stake away from the airplane). Pulling-pressure from the wings wanting to rock shouldn't be able to pull the stakes out. Sounds OK,but I've never had occasion yet to try them out. They probably won't work,then I'll be forced to hit myself in the head with my little belt axe in despair. Life is tough,ain't it?

Eric

[N2865C]

Bruce who makes Flyties is a good friend and hanger neighbor. His stuff is good quality and it works well. I have helped him with measured pull tests and his outperform the others on the market that we tested. You do have to follow the directions for the rope placement for them to be effective. They were rated highly in a review of portable tiedowns in Aviation Consumer. In the next week or so he will be selling a new system. It's another good design and less expensive. Watch his website. George's idea sounds pretty good too.
jc

[N1478D]

The company is called Flyties. Here's their web address.

http://www.flyties.com/

I bought a set and the are nicely made. Fit into a small container. A bit pricey but I bought a set since he was providing a discount to C170 members.

I also recently saw an article somewhere (sorry, I can't recall but maybe some members can help out) on a similar setup made with short pieces of chain and steel rods. Maybe in Plane & Pilot or AOPA..... Anyone else see this?

Kyle

Hi Kyle,

That article was in the April 2004 issue of EAA Sport Aviation. Thought it was a good article too.

Another good method is for us A guys to park next to some B's. The B's always slow the wind down to a non factor.

See you next week at Petit Jean!

[n3833v]

The Sport Aviation [apr 04] about the links of chain is one of the most compact way to go. Three sections of 5 links connected with a repair link. 18" rods at tapered angles and tie to the repair link. Chains fold into small bag. I also have the rods that have the eyes and in shale I sometimes can't get them to meet at the right place. I think the chain idea will work a lot better because you can move the placement.

[Curtis Brown]

Will those doggie cock screw things hold an airplane down? I have seen them used and have used them myself. but do not have a lot of faith in them. What do y'all think?

[AR Dave]

Yes Curtis they do! I had some screw-in stakes that came with a Weatherport tent in Alaska. Once they were screwed in the ground, they were'nt coming out no matter where they were anchored or tied too. That's what holds the tents down in they're 100 mph advertisements.
However, these are heavier duty than the ones I think you're talking about. Bigger and have a solid blade for 1 turn like a tractor post hole digger. I'll see if I can dig two up out of my clutter pile and bring to Petit Jean for the plane tie-down anchor's contest. Course we'll have to push the planes away from the asphalt parking lot at our Wilderness Campout. Man it's tough going down here Hammering a straight stake into a rocky or harder ground would be easier than getting a screw started..

[Larry Holtz]

I Made a set of the 3 pin type as per EAA recomendations last summer before I went to Oshkosh. They are cheap and easy to make and work well. We had a storm at Osh that took out a lot of tents but the stakes held without any loosening.
The screw in and auger type work very well if your tying down in a rock free area. Of course those of us in the Northwest don't know anything about rocks.

[Roesbery]

A lot of what will or will not work depends on what the ground is made of. Some years ago a friend tied his newly rebuilt super cub down with the plate type auger on about 3 foot shanks in sandy soil. Next morning at daylight the cub was wheels up, (as in belly up). He had to do a complete rebuild again. A couple bags, stuff bags will work in a pinch, and a shovel, if the ground is soft enough to dig. Fill the bags with dirt and bury a foot or more so that the lines are at a 45 degree angle more or less, not straight up (weakest), logs, rocks, boards, etc. will work if available

[jrenwick]

Tiedowns are oodles of fun to talk and argue about, because opinions about them are strongly held and there's not a lot of real data -- just marketing claims based on a few favorable pull-tests, anecdotes, experience, both happy and sad -- and there are enough variables to make it an interesting problem.

We don't even have the vocabulary to analyze the problem: what do you call the foot-long disc-type screw-in anchor, versus the coil-type screw-in doggie stake? (In some people's opinions, "worthless" for both of them! ) What are the terms for different kinds of soil?

I had a strong opinion favoring the foot-long disc-type screw-in stakes after watching them hold my J3 firmly in a Wisconsin hailstorm that flattened an adjacent corn field. But at OSH this year, after a day or two of rain soaked the soil, I found it only took one turn or so to loosen them enough that I could pull them the rest of the way straight out by hand. Now I'm looking for something better.

EAA is recommending this for Oshkosh parking: http://www.vintageaircraft.org/magazine ... iedown.pdf . I've built and tested the chain-and-pin variety, and I'm not sure I like it. I'll build and test the Vintage system next.

What we really need is a "pull-off" at one of the fly-ins, to compare a variety of tie-downs in similar soil, using the same apparatus to measure their holding strength, pulling both vertically and at an angle. Carefully done, with the soil properties characterized in engineering terms, such a trial could produce the first real engineering data we've seen on tie-downs.

Anybody up for it at the next 170 annual convention?

Best Regards,

John

[AR Dave]

A Pull Off is a good ideal! I've got a new used 50 hp tractor (with a bucket that can reach over the plane) and 2 horses that we can use to pull them planes in every direction at Petit Jean this spring. jrenwick - hope you can fly down with Kyle to the Petit Jean 170.

On a side note, something neat that I saw at Petit Jean 04, was Ole Pokey's PVC Chalks. I took a picture of them, but maybe I'd better check to see if Pokey's got a patent pending. They weigh little more than a snickers bar and basically lock around the tire. Real clever!

Here it is - Steel Fence Post (eye bolt welded on) cut the width of fuselage or custom length. Comes complete with a T post driver. Just PM me and I can send you one for $50+ shipping and handling.

[n3833v]

I have found that I need different ones for different soils. I normally use the pin with a formed ring on top and cross them to meet for the tie loop. I also carry the vintage with the chain links and ring.