mtv wrote:If you get caught in a huge wind from the rear of your plane, you have a serious dillema: Untie the plane, and try to turn it into the wind, or attach some 2x4s to the struts and hope for the best.

Boy oh boy, been there a few times. I've watched guys turn airplanes in heavy blows and it's downright frightening. Having a buddy "hold the wing down" is like pissing on a forest fire. Only thing that saved them is that most airplanes will handle more ground blow than folks realize (except for a C206 which will turn turtle with darn near no wind). Once committed to a wind direction and tied down, I'm in the hope for the best school and maintain what I got.

Gump

Gump,

There are ways to turn one around safely, but it's still edgy. I've parked a fuel truck upwind, tied the plane to the bumper of another truck, and sort of "guided" it around with four or five guys. Not something you're going to do safely by yourself.

If tied down well, tailed into the wind, best thing you can do is find the biggest truck you can and park it upwind by about two feet, then hope for the best.

I had a 206 at Arctic Village when they set some sort of wind velocity records--over 45 knots. Taxiied it up facing a Sea Van, tied it off to the van, then checked on it frequently. Fortunately, the wind didn't change through the night, and it rode just fine.

MTV

I came upon a idea for portable and cheap tiedowns . Went to Lowes
and found Concrete stakes about foot and half long. About 1 1/2 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick . Went back to my shop and drilled 1/2 inch hole inch 1/2 or so from top end (opposite of the pointy end) went to Ace Hardware and got some screw clasp . Use 1/2 inch nylon rope about 8 ft. each. Use a large hammer to drive the stakes into the ground( leave 4-6 inches exposed -to get them out) at about 45 degree angle out board. I read some where that tiedowns at a 30 degree angle outboard give best results. Whole setup will be under 20 bucks. Trying to post a picture . Bill Reid