At the national convention? Or some other fly-in? I'd observe that previous National Conventions have run from about 30 up to 118 Coupes and a few Cherocoupes and off brands. You need to bring your own tie down equipment whenever you go to a fly-in. You can expect the permanent tie down locations to be taken early. You can't count on the locals selling you quality tie down equipment -- it's a hassle for them and an unnecessary expense for you.
Now, I use the _very_heavy_ duty, spiral, dog tie down gadgets and nylon rope, when I'm traveling. (At home, I hangar the plane.) I'd suggest avoiding the cheap, light-weight spiral dog tie downs. We're talking about thousand(s) of pounds of pull in a storm. In the past, I used, and liked, the cable anchors that have a long shaft and a spiral disk near the bottom. These are unquestionably strong and the tie down ring would break off before these would pull out of the ground. It took my tow bar to crank these into the ground. But I changed away from using them when I went to some fly-ins at airports with rocky ground. The cable anchors just WOULD NOT go in the ground at those airports. Also, important, when I park the plane outside, I tie my control wheels together and move trim to maximum cruise (>110 mph). Then, if a tie down pulls loose, the trim of the plane will make it stay nose down till the airspeed exceeds 110 mph. I've seen a Coupe be the only intact plane after the windstorm rolled the other tied out planes into balls. The Coupe pulled loose from its tie downs, but just sat, jiggled, bounced and weathercocked into the wind as the wind shifted. The trim was set to high speed. If I ever get stuck away from home with no tie downs and no hangar, I'd set the plane way away from other planes (the other side of the runway?), with the ailerons tied and the trim at max and expect it to weather anything short of a tornado. g w wrote: > > Hi all, I was just wondering if anybody knows how many planes are expected, > and what kind of tiedown would be neccesary. If they don't have the number > of tiedowns, I guess it would be neccessary to get a set of those spikes and > ropes they sell in the catalogs. I wonder what is the best kind? Maybe > some nylon ratcheting tiedowns from Walmart would do the trick. Also, what > is the best day to come to see the most planes? I am going to fly out and > back in one day as it is only 1.5 hour. Considering that I have never flown > my plane out of the traffic pattern, it should be quite a trip. PS It tooks > the feds only 3 weeks to replace my lost certificates. Glen Ward > > __________________________________________________________________________ ______ > To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________ > Start an Email List For Free at Topica. http://www.topica.com/register -- Ed Burkhead Peoria, Ill. Ercoupe N3802H, 415-D __________________________________________________________________________ ______ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________ Enlighten your in-box. http://www.topica.com/t/15
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