- Joined
- Aug 28, 2006
- Messages
- 1,381
- Reaction score
- 411
As I get ready for Oshkosh, I have been pondering tiedowns. I have the Claw setup for when I get to Oshkosh and am happy with that, but the first question is ropes or straps? The welded rings on the bottom of the wing can only handle 3/8" rope, I bought some links, like chain links with the threaded nut that fit in there and will handle 1/2" rope. Of course there is the question of nylon or polyester or polypropylene rope and a lot of people now use ratchet straps. I am planning on going with 1/2" nylon rope unless there is better experience with something else.
The second question I have is tying the plane down on the ramp somewhere along the way. Last year I was at Dodge County and a storm was coming, so I tied my plane down on the ramp. Unfortunately, the tiedown rings on the ground were very far apart compared to the Eagle wings. On top of that, the Eagle wings are very close to the ground, so the net result was that the ropes were almost parallel to the ground and I doubt would have worked that well to hold the plane down. Luckily, they were able to put my plane in the hangar so I did not have to test the theory. I checked the ramp at my airport and some of the tiedowns were 25' apart and some were 22' The Eagle tiedown rings are a little over 12' apart. So, does anyone have experience using these tiedowns on a ramp, are there any other possibilities such as tying to the wires where they go into the top wing?
The second question I have is tying the plane down on the ramp somewhere along the way. Last year I was at Dodge County and a storm was coming, so I tied my plane down on the ramp. Unfortunately, the tiedown rings on the ground were very far apart compared to the Eagle wings. On top of that, the Eagle wings are very close to the ground, so the net result was that the ropes were almost parallel to the ground and I doubt would have worked that well to hold the plane down. Luckily, they were able to put my plane in the hangar so I did not have to test the theory. I checked the ramp at my airport and some of the tiedowns were 25' apart and some were 22' The Eagle tiedown rings are a little over 12' apart. So, does anyone have experience using these tiedowns on a ramp, are there any other possibilities such as tying to the wires where they go into the top wing?
