Couple of planes got flipped by the weather here in Sac. Everyone's planes alright? Going over to my hangar tonight.

Ok so far. The storm hit at 2 a.m. and I lay awake for the rest of the night wishing I had a hangar! The winds were ferocious, but everyone around me has chains, as do I, and everything was in tact when I visited this a.m. So it looks like the plane got a good washing. Now if only it would quit so I could fly tomorrow.

CAVU

Be very wary with tie down chains, they are a serious problem.
The rocking of the plane as tyres depress or whatever causes a sudden jarring and shock to the tiedown ring, the strut attach bolts, and the wing root bolts.
There are not a few instances where these bolts have been partially sheared or compromised.
It is important to leave the chain loose as a last ditch anchorage but take the load with a rope or strap of apropriate load to absorb the shock.
If you know the wind has been extreme, it will be wise to check all the wing attach bolts.
Apropriate load strength of the rope is equivalent to the load the wing can lift without bending the wing, at least 3.8 times the gross weight of the plane.
Place flaps in negative position on a late model Maule and 0deg in other craft.
Jeremy

I second the advice about chains. A Stearman here in Tehachapi had a wing totalled when a tire went flat and the ship was tied down under tension with chain.

After having gone through many high winds in Alaska I would suggest getting rid of the chains. Use nylon to allow stretch from the bounce on tires. If you have rings put the rope through the ring then around the strut. This gets the most strength as you have now tied to the spar attach bracket. On most my planes I never used rings and only wrapped around the strut.

The only fatality in a Savannah was when a wing strut came loose on a plane that had spent two or three winters in Norway, chained down in the high winds, and heavy snow. The strut attach bracket was damaged so badly it failed.

The owner recognized the damage, ordered new parts, but flew it anyway. He and his passenger died when the part failed.

I made some short rope loops, so the nasty old chain at most tieup areas have a little buffer. For overnight I use rope.

tom

Thanks, guys! I'm heading to the airport now--with nylon ropes.

CAVU

I drove by Sac Executive yesterday and saw some variety of Cessna upside down in the ditch! Looked like it went through the fence on the way. Given the winds I'm surprised it was the only one - there was plenty of activity on the ramp, folks trying to reinforce the rest of the line. Haven't seen wind like that since the last Hurricane in NC.

The upside is the mtns got dumped on!

In the mountains east of Placerville I saw lightning during a snow storm...not something you see every day around here. The NWS was calling for gusts up to 110mph across the ridges.

I work at Calaveras Airport (kcpu) and we had winds from 150 25 gusting to 42 at times. I was glad my 180 was inside. All others tied down did good. Here is some other wind speeds from NOAA.

Fri Jan 4 11:07:32 2008

Hourly data from along the Sierra Crest
near Lake Tahoe. Elevation: 8700 Feet
Collected by the National Weather Service - Reno NV

MN DY Hour Temp Wind
Dir Speed Gust
1 4 1100 27 328 62 109
1 4 1000 26 325 61 105
1 4 0900 26 357 58 94
1 4 0800 27 358 57 89
1 4 0700 26 352 52 96
1 4 0600 27 338 49 80
1 4 0500 27 331 43 69
1 4 0400 26 260 48 74
1 4 0300 25 238 48 69
1 4 0200 24 237 46 68
1 4 0100 24 239 50 70
1 3 2400 23 236 50 72
1 3 2300 22 232 48 71
1 3 2200 23 240 44 68
1 3 2100 22 229 32 52
1 3 2000 22 220 31 47
1 3 1900 20 319 44 71
1 3 1800 20 0 45 72
1 3 1700 19 0 43 75
1 3 1600 20 355 59 85
1 3 1500 23 291 76 120
1 3 1400 26 288 76 114
1 3 1300 27 263 72 108
1 3 1200 28 288 73 111
1 3 1100 28 305 79 112
1 3 1000 27 273 71 107
1 3 0900 27 303 66 98
1 3 0800 27 300 70 105

wagonwrench wrote:I work at Calaveras Airport (kcpu) and we had winds from 150 25 gusting to 42 at times. I was glad my 180 was inside. All others tied down did good. Here is some other wind speeds from NOAA.

Hey WW,

I'm based at Columbia and buy fuel whenever I can at CPU. Rex (works for Davids) is a shirt tail relative and I received my seaplane rating from Terry a few years back.

Next time I'm headed that way I'll look you up.

The wind was howling over here at O22 also. I'm also glad to not have my Maule on the line. Looks like round two is about to hit this afternoon.


Mark

Hey Mark how's it goin. You gonna make the fly in this June? I'm almost ready. Work is progressing right along. SHould be done before the end of this month if Maule ever sends some of the parts we ordered. Hope to see you up Idaho way in June.... Butch

I am in Mountain Green, UT at this time. Just 3 miles from Morgan
county airport. Drove the Tahoe from Weed on Thursday, laid up in Winemuca thaen on to here.

Tomarrow I am driving down to Burbank, Ca probably with a night in Cedar City or St George. Then after that a drive back north to home port.

Seen a lot of bad weather with very high winds. In good wx it would have been a great flight but with this stuff I am glad to have the tires on the pavement.

Tim

iceman wrote:Hey Mark how's it goin. You gonna make the fly in this June? I'm almost ready. Work is progressing right along. SHould be done before the end of this month if Maule ever sends some of the parts we ordered. Hope to see you up Idaho way in June.... Butch

Butch,
Yep, planning on seeing the whole crew in June. I missed last year due to a wedding. (Still trying to help my wife with priorities, and losing obviously) Glad to hear your almost done. We'll have to do a breakfast trip, maybe Oceano or ? (someplace sorta in between) when you done.

I'm starting to grow fins here. It has been raining for four days now.

Mark

Yeah lots of rain here too. Hills where the fires were are starting to slide down. Just a big mess, not to mention the Chargers have to play in the rain today. Hope they can handle it Glad I have a hangar for times like this, even though it's in someone elses hangar.