I've heard that Minam Lodge is open already, wondering about Red's. Haven't been in there this early in the year before.
Don't they have to mow the runway with draft horses or something before us non-bushwheel folks can get in?

Thanks.

Minam will open this weekend and I don't know about Red's there is nothing to open other than the runway.....

Guess that was a dumb question, huh.

Good afternoon,

Are there tie downs at Red's or Minam Lodge?

Is there problems with the winds there this time of year?

Are Memaloose and Lord Flat open now? Conditions at each?

Thanks in advance,

John

John,
No tie downs at either Reds or Minam...take your own...typical canyon scenario...can be calm for several days...and then it can blow like hell the next three hours or three days...I carry them always just for that reason...I heard our local FBO pilot flew some spring bear hunters into Lords Flat last Saturday....I would say Memaloose is still shut due to snow, but I haven't flown over it for a couple of weeks....

Good morning,

Would bags filled with sand or rocks work ok for tie downs? If not, other ideas?

Thanks,

John

John,
your wings are designed to lift the gross weight of your plane at it's min flying speed.
Therefore your bag of rocks needs to equal the weight of the lift that a wind gust can produce.
Wingtip fuel in a Maule can weigh 126lbs and it is heavier than the buckets of concrete I have seen used for tiedowns which become dangerous swinging appendages in a strong gust.
jeremy

John,
I carry a tie down kit. Not sure where we got it.....It comes in a pvc canister for storage. 3 small pucks with holes in them that you drive the provided stakes through. The holes are all angled in different directions so the stakes go in the ground at an angle instead of straight down. The pucks have an eye on them that a rope can be attached too. It also comes with a stake puller for when you are ready to leave. Aircraft spruce sells something similiar. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/p ... lyties.php

These seem to work well for us. I carry a small hatchet in my survival kit hat has a square back head for driving in the stakes.

This months Aviation Consumer has a review on tie downs and while they liked all of the "commercial" kits (flie ties and the like), they found the spiral "dog stake-outs" worked just about as well. Same performance for $3.95.

Your mileage may vary,
Chris

Our very own Abe sells a cool tie down kit: http://www.abesaviation.com/

If you do a search for "tie down" or "tiedown" or "tie-down" you'll turn up some good stuff. One of the conclusions was that the spiral auger-in type aren't as stout in a strong wind.

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1815&start=0&hilit=tiedown

Will do Minam and Reds this Eve...

Nice recon Wup! After a while I couldn't stop looking at that little round door in the top of the cowling that was flappin in the breeze...haha.

I screwed up and didn't get my landing at Lord Flat but I got the take off..... We are getting thunder and lightning now so I don't know if I will be able to get Minam and Red's done or not tonight but in the AM for sure.

Good morning,

Thanks for all the replies regarding Reds/Minam/tie downs. I was heading over last Friday but had radio problems(push to talk switch) so I didn't make the trip. Hopefully later on.

John

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/exclusi ... 574-1.html

This is an AVWEB follow on to their Aviation Consumer article about tie downs.

CJS