You need wing covers anyway so get some with spoilers sewn into them, that will kill the lift.

I use a Gerber Hatchet to drive in my tie downs, super sharp and helps with off-airport runway building and firewood around camp.
http://www.gerbergear.com/Cutting-Tools/Axes/17.5-Freescape-Hatchet_31-002536

For anchors I carry Duckbills and Abe's Tie Downs.

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/search.asp?stext=duckbill

http://www.abesaviation.com

For the rope itself I use Ravi's Chinese finger trap AmSteel.

Scolopax wrote:I recently discovered a product called "Orange Screw" that makes an excellent tie down anchor. They are not intended for aviation, but they are very well designed and perfectly suited for tie down anchors in the wilderness. They are functional, lightweight, inexpensive, durable, easy to drive in to the ground and very difficult to pull up from most earth that I have driven them in to. I would highly recommend these for anyone's airplane wilderness tie down kit.

http://www.orangescrew.com/

I think I am going to get a couple of these, they are cheap enough to test them out. I like that they are light! Super light!

Seems you could thread 2 in per wing and raise the capacity up even further if needed

Any updates on how well the orange screws work? Looking for tie downs myself. Will these stand up to some heave winds?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did anyone try the Orange Anchors? Looking like an interesting product.

I bet their are some "Lessons Learned" from the HIGH SIERRA winds encountered this year.

Jim

When using the Claw, all tie down lines need to be Vertical and taught.

And always, be sure to tie down the tail.

I have to say that lightweight might not be the best criteria. IMNSHO most of the systems that I have seen would only provide a small margin over what most GA planes would survive without being tied down at all. The type of soil that they go into has a lot to do with their holding power.

At HSF the claw was everywhere, including on the cub that got away (though only two I think, not three points). Everyone else survived what was probably about 65 MPH winds.

I really agonised about how to orient my plane to the wind, and ended up with the plane almost sideways to the wind , favoring the back quarter. I got up several times in the night and there was almost no tension on the line on the windward side. I was using two 18" pieces of rebar with eyes welded on them on each side, and one at the tail.

Next year I am taking at least three 36" angle iron stakes in addition. Of course it won't be windy. Probably two pounds each, but they come out of the plane as soon as I arrive. YMMV.

I have yet to see one of the reusable anchors come even close to a DUCKBILL!! Bang for the buck weight wise carry a set of wing covers with spoilers, might do just as good as the claw type anchor. How many here have see a freshly driven duckbill fail at 50mph winds.
DENNY

GravityKnight wrote:

Scolopax wrote:I recently discovered a product called "Orange Screw" that makes an excellent tie down anchor. They are not intended for aviation, but they are very well designed and perfectly suited for tie down anchors in the wilderness. They are functional, lightweight, inexpensive, durable, easy to drive in to the ground and very difficult to pull up from most earth that I have driven them in to. I would highly recommend these for anyone's airplane wilderness tie down kit.

http://www.orangescrew.com/

I think I am going to get a couple of these, they are cheap enough to test them out. I like that they are light! Super light!

Seems you could thread 2 in per wing and raise the capacity up even further if needed

Hit one rock with one of these and you'd be....screwed. Good soil though, they look fine. I like using natural tie downs whenever possible: a big sage brush, fence line, boulder, etc., and will park accordingly when landing off airport and leaving the plane for a while. Duh...it just occurred to me I could get a few screws to use when appropriate, AND still carry my existing 3 stake tie down kit, as their weight is so slight, why not?

I think I am going to get a couple of these, they are cheap enough to test them out. I like that they are light! Super light!

Seems you could thread 2 in per wing and raise the capacity up even further if needed

The orange screws might be cheap, but what they're tying down isn't...

The two airplanes I've seen upside down after a blow both had Claw's hanging off them. Nothing against the Claw...I think it's as good as any of the units out there, and a hell of a lot better than any dirt-screw. But in anything other than excellent soil you simply don't get enough holding power out of three big nails, no matter how cleverly they're arranged. Don't forget that some of that excellent soil becomes fantastically un-excellent when it gets wet.

Given the consequences of failure, I just don't see tie down's as a rational place to try to shave money or weight. If weight is really that big a deal, I'd be investing in titanium, NOT plastic.

The two airplanes I've seen upside down after a blow both had Claw's hanging off them. Nothing against the Claw...I think it's as good as any of the units out there, and a hell of a lot better than any dirt-screw. But in anything other than excellent soil you simply don't get enough holding power out of three big nails, no matter how cleverly they're arranged. Don't forget that some of that excellent soil becomes fantastically un-excellent when it gets wet.

In defense of the Claw, mine held through a tornado at Sun 'n Fun (in rain soaked sand) and several thunderstorms at OSH over the years. No system is unbreakable, that's for sure, but, they need to be used properly to have a fighting chance of working. If I had a nickel for every improperly tied plane I see at OSH every year, even I could afford a few payments on a Carbon Cub.

The ropes on the Claw need to be vertical.
AND, all three points need to be tied. Meaning the tail Claw needs to be under the tail of the plane, not behind it.



Otherwise, don't bother unpacking them. There's several videos "out there" showing how easily the Claw will break under a side load.

courierguy wrote:

GravityKnight wrote:

Scolopax wrote:I recently discovered a product called "Orange Screw" that makes an excellent tie down anchor. They are not intended for aviation, but they are very well designed and perfectly suited for tie down anchors in the wilderness. They are functional, lightweight, inexpensive, durable, easy to drive in to the ground and very difficult to pull up from most earth that I have driven them in to. I would highly recommend these for anyone's airplane wilderness tie down kit.

http://www.orangescrew.com/

I think I am going to get a couple of these, they are cheap enough to test them out. I like that they are light! Super light!

Seems you could thread 2 in per wing and raise the capacity up even further if needed

Hit one rock with one of these and you'd be....screwed. Good soil though, they look fine. I like using natural tie downs whenever possible: a big sage brush, fence line, boulder, etc., and will park accordingly when landing off airport and leaving the plane for a while. Duh...it just occurred to me I could get a few screws to use when appropriate, AND still carry my existing 3 stake tie down kit, as their weight is so slight, why not?

I have used them several times now. I carry my home made 2024 aluminum stakes I made (5/8 2024 alum I turned to a point in the lathe, then swedged a sleeve of steel on the end about 2" long and drilled through that and the stake to put an eye bolt to attach to it, about 18" long or so iirc. Total weight for both was like 2 lbs ish) anytime I know I'll need a tie down, but leave the orange screws in the plane all the time in case I need a tie down I didn't plan on, at least I have something... they weight nothing.

I have tried threading them into ground so hard they just hang up, I've hit rocks, no damage to the screws from any of that, they are surprisingly strong and "springy" ... since you twist them in by hand you can stop before you damage them due to the ground or things under the surface. They work best in ground you can just barely turn them into (duh).

I do regularly use them to tie down the tail, and they have not had an issue yet. I was in KS at the RANS fly in the other day, and we got pounded one day and most of the night with 40mph+ wind. My home made stakes didn't loosen up, and the orange screw on the tail was still secure. The ground was right for it - the wrong soil and it wouldn't have much pull, true for any tie down I've seen so far though.... Even though I've not had an issue with them, I like my stakes better for the wings and feel better with those there than the screws.

I was skeptical about the orange plastic screws too, and I'm not sure I'd even bother with them on a heavier airplane, but for the money and especially weight, it doesn't hurt my feelings to have them riding along in the plane as another option.

daedaluscan wrote:
I really agonised about how to orient my plane to the wind, and ended up with the plane almost sideways to the wind , favoring the back quarter. I got up several times in the night and there was almost no tension on the line on the windward side. I was using two 18" pieces of rebar with eyes welded on them on each side, and one at the tail.
YMMV.

I've often thought about the same thing: How best to orient a plane to the wind? I think most say face the propeller into the wind, and add spoilers on the wings, but the spoilers are usually not practical at most off airport sites. Others say face the tail into the wind. I'm interested in thoughts.

SkySteve wrote:

daedaluscan wrote:
I really agonised about how to orient my plane to the wind, and ended up with the plane almost sideways to the wind , favoring the back quarter. I got up several times in the night and there was almost no tension on the line on the windward side. I was using two 18" pieces of rebar with eyes welded on them on each side, and one at the tail.
YMMV.

I've often thought about the same thing: How best to orient a plane to the wind? I think most say face the propeller into the wind, and add spoilers on the wings, but the spoilers are usually not practical at most off airport sites. Others say face the tail into the wind. I'm interested in thoughts.

I recall MTV telling a story about a cub that was tied tail into the wind and the wind collapsed the rear wing strut.

Wind on the tail is essentially negative G's on the airframe...something most airplanes are not built for, or at least not in comparison to positive G's.

Given the choice I'll park straight into the wind, tied to withstand whatever lift is created by the wing (and then some).

If you like your airplane you will need to carry a few different types of tie down anchors. NONE of them will work in all cases. If you decide a cheesy screw is all you'll ever need, or nails are all you'll ever need, or Abe's are all you'll ever need, or duckbills are all you'll ever need- then get and carry a Sat phone so you can call a friend to come get you when your airplane is all balled up. Let me give you an example.

A few weeks ago a friend took his cub out hunting/fishing. A blow was coming so he dug the bushwheels down to lower the wing's angle of attack. He anchored the plane with two duckbills at each wing and two on the tail.

When the blow was over the cub was completely balled up. The duckbills had pulled out of the ground. The only thing he didn't have was spoiler wing covers, nor had he attached any McGuyver spoilers to the wings. Would spoilers have saved his plane? We will never know. But it would have killed the wing's lift so they might have. He told me next time he'd take logs, tie his plane to those, and bury them. Would that have saved his plane? Maybe. But without spoilers it also might just bend the wings.

See my previous post in this thread for what I carry. Oh, and if I'm headed to an area with rock hard dirt then I carry Storm Force as well. And I carry a sat phone in case it all goes south.

P.S. My airplane is worth way more then the cost of every type of tie down anchor ever created so I'll do everything I can to keep it safe.
P.P.S. One time when I was in Whitehorse a blow was coming. The only place I could put my plane was in an open-ended Quonset Hut with no place to put tie down anchors. So I put on my wing spoilers and found two aircraft generator tractors. Drove one under each wing and tied the SQ2 to them. It was still there in the morning safe and sound.

If you can dig...then this is what I use. A piece of plywood with two holes and rope looped through the holes. The wood is buried 12-18 inches down, with the rope loops sticking up.



Not particularly lightweight, but incredibly effective.

Barnstormer wrote:If you like your airplane you will need to carry a few different types of tie down anchors. NONE of them will work in all cases. If you decide a cheesy screw is all you'll ever need, or nails are all you'll ever need, or Abe's are all you'll ever need, or duckbills are all you'll ever need- then get and carry a Sat phone so you can call a friend to come get you when your airplane is all balled up. Let me give you an example.

A few weeks ago a friend took his cub out hunting/fishing. A blow was coming so he dug the bushwheels down to lower the wing's angle of attack. He anchored the plane with two duckbills at each wing and two on the tail.

When the blow was over the cub was completely balled up. The duckbills had pulled out of the ground. The only thing he didn't have was spoiler wing covers, nor had he attached any McGuyver spoilers to the wings. Would spoilers have saved his plane? We will never know. But it would have killed the wing's lift so they might have. He told me next time he'd take logs, tie his plane to those, and bury them. Would that have saved his plane? Maybe. But without spoilers it also might just bend the wings.

See my previous post in this thread for what I carry. Oh, and if I'm headed to an area with rock hard dirt then I carry Storm Force as well. And I carry a sat phone in case it all goes south.

P.S. My airplane is worth way more then the cost of every type of tie down anchor ever created so I'll do everything I can to keep it safe.
P.P.S. One time when I was in Whitehorse a blow was coming. The only place I could put my plane was in an open-ended Quonset Hut with no place to put tie down anchors. So I put on my wing spoilers and found two aircraft generator tractors. Drove one under each wing and tied the SQ2 to them. It was still there in the morning safe and sound.

Well put. Anyone who believes there is ONE right solution to anchoring an airplane is a fool.

Though I'd be very interested in what sized duck bill, what type of soil, and whether they were set properly. Assuming #68's, that's a LOT of holding power, soil and placement permitting.

Hammer wrote:...I'd be very interested in what sized duck bill, what type of soil, and whether they were set properly. Assuming #68's, that's a LOT of holding power, soil and placement permitting.

They were 68's. Three feet down. From the picture I saw the soil looked a bit "loamy", but I wasn't there so can't be certain.

Barnstormer wrote:

Hammer wrote:...I'd be very interested in what sized duck bill, what type of soil, and whether they were set properly. Assuming #68's, that's a LOT of holding power, soil and placement permitting.

They were 68's. Three feet down. From the picture I saw the soil looked a bit "loamy", but I wasn't there so can't be certain.

That's pretty impressive...even in poor soil that should have been 1000 lbs per wing, providing he set them with a hard pull prior to tying them off.