A Reason for Proper Tie Downs

Ok, this one comes from personal experience. Everyone knows that a plane must be properly tied down to keep wind damage to a minimum. Well, if the tie down stakes aren’t properly inserted in the ground, the wind will eventually flip or damage a plane.

My experience was due to a recent move. Having sold my home, I needed to relocate my plane.

Yes I had it tied down at home. I was planning repairs.

Anyway, my parents have property adjacent to our old home, so I pulled up the properly inserted tie down augers I was using and moved them and the plane onto my parent’s property. The ground was dry and hard to get the tie downs fully inserted in the ground. I stopped inserting them with them only half their length in the ground. Now while I had them in my yard the tie downs had never budged. Yet due to not being too shallow in the ground, one came out of the ground due to the wind causing a repeated jerking on it. From there you know what happened. My plane was flipped.

My plane, a Quicksilver MX, now has one severely damaged wing and damage to the rudder, king post, and elevator pushrod. The planes age makes it not worth repairing.

Now a few tips from experience:

1. Use proper tie downs. The ones I have are adequate for an ultralight. They go 18” into the ground when fully inserted. They auger disc is 3” in diameter and the shaft is ¼” rod with an eye formed in the top.

2. Fully insert the auger. The auger eye should be no more than 1” from the ground.

3. Water tamp the auger for an hour to make sure the soil that has been loosened is packed firmly. Let dry for a day.

4. Use ¼” or larger rope or the small tie straps of the pull through or ratcheting variety.

5. Properly secure your plane, preferably with the tail to the prevailing winds.

Most probably realize these thing, but if this will save some trouble for someone who hasn’t.

By the way, does anyone want a parts plane. I’m interested in selling it less the engine.