Hi All,
I'm new to the forum but couldn't help but notice you had mentioned the Storm Force Aircraft Tie Down. I've been flying in and around the Maine and New Hampshire back country for quite some time and have owned almost every different type of tie down out there (cork screw, the claw, fly ties, etc...) but they've all either broken (the claw) or ripped out of the ground.
I have to say that this storm force tie down has held up pretty well. It does a really good job of holding to the ground (which makes sense because you use it at a 45 degree angle, and each tie down (per wing and tail) has 4 spikes which hold perpendicular to the load.) Storm force actually held my 172 to the ground on the coast of maine during sustained 70mph winds...after that i haven't trusted my plane to anything else. I definitely think the storm force tie downs are worth the money. I actually just checked the website and it looks like they're having a sun 'n fun sale (http://www.stormforcetiedowns.com)...good luck!

With Fun in the Sun raising the old topic of Tie Down Systems I was going to share this video with the folks who won our tie down kit at JC, but I have not been able to find out who they are, so I'll share it with everyone. We sent a set of our tie downs to the folks at Aviation Consumer back in Florida. Even though we have done our own testing in some of the Oregon and Idaho backcountry strips, it is nice to have an independent party test your product and give the consumers some unbiased information. They have an article with the test results in their July issue of Aviaton Consumer and here is a link to a video of them conducting the tests in Florida -> http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/exclusi ... 878-1.html

bushpilot23 wrote:Hi All,
I definitely think the storm force tie downs are worth the money. I actually just checked the website and it looks like they're having a sun 'n fun sale (http://www.stormforcetiedowns.com)...good luck!

Watching the video, I think Abe's are really the best simply because the concept is that they have such a broad face with which to spread the force. It's the Deadman concept from building snow anchors-- which is the best way to deal with anchoring into a soft medium. The Storm Force seem ok, in fact in a stroke of desperation 2 nights before the fly-in, I built my own in my garage based on the Storm Force design. I don't think they'd measure up in a big blow though.

I do like Abe's system too, it appears to be the ticket for soft ground ops. It would have been nice however to see the testing done at the proper installation angle, not pulled on almost horizontally from the truck bumper. That doesn't tell you much if you are trying to anchor an airplane.

Here's why: When aircraft or any load that lifts vertically is tied out at a 45 degree angle, the tensile force along the rope is actually over 40% higher than if it were tied vertically. Laying over at 80 degrees, the difference is huge. Lots of physics mumbo jumbo regarding free body diagrams I won't bore everyone with, but when you are seeing dynamometer test results as was shown in the video you need to figure that the airplane only needs to exert about 70 percent of that lift in the vertical component on a 45 degree install to tear them out. Those 300 - 350 lb resistance test figures are diminished to 210 - 250 lbs in vertical lift. Since my 180 comes off the ground at 45 kts or so no flaps in a 3 pt attitude with my fat butt and another in the cabin, it is easy to see that most anchors won't do squat in a good blow. Mike V. had enlightened me and others on the use of duckbill anchors a while back in a separate thread, and if the wind is really scooting they are probably the only option other than getting the hell out of dodge beforehand. I keep saying I need to buy a few to keep in the tiedown bag in case something were to get really crappy. I still remember the pics of Pops hanging onto his cub for dear life, don't think that's gonna happen with a 180 no matter how much I weigh.

Full disclosure, I did buy the Claw a couple years back for the 172 due to the pull angle issue. Had I to do over again I'd probably take a closer look at Abe's, wasn't aware of his product back then.

Flynengr

At Johnson Creek where I parked it took several/numerous tries to get the stakes pounded between the rocks. All of these systems/products depend on getting something down into the soil/ground. What if you are parked on a big rock?.... I don't come prepared to fill a BIG nylon mesh bag with rocks.....Maybe I should?.... I do like my airplane better than insurance money......
I was close to the river....... a BIG bag of water? Or 2/wing? A thick (mils) big 'contractor' garbage bag filled with water......Hmmmm.
Weight negligible to carry the bags, and they are multipurpose. Probably need to place on a groundcloth to not puncture.....Hmmmm.
Maybe put it in one of those large lightweight collapsible camping garbage cans, then fill with water......Hmmmmm.

Thinking online here..... Ideas??
lc

The largest collapsible container (I could find) holds 43 gal. If you lined it with a contractors trash bag to make it waterproof and filled it, it should weigh about 680 lbs.

http://www.amazon.com/Toro-29210-43-Gal ... _ol_text_c

Some of the 'store bought' tie downs don't hold that amount of 'pull'. If you combined with 'wing spoilers' (lift spoilers) and raise the tail, that should hold pretty well.
Of course, that is a lot of water to move, so a 5 gal bucket and CLOSE water source would be nice for the fill.....

....And if you needed a bath......nevermind.

lc

Bought the system from Abe's. I fly in the northeast. If I could get them into the ground I suppose they would do BUT I couldn't get them in anywhere I tried. The anchor blade is too wide and the soil is too rocky here. I ordered Storm Force tiedowns (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s36_8CAoLXs). I'll post my thoughts.

Happy flying

Saw the Abe's at Schafer last week. That setup simply won't work out here in the West. You'd need a huge sledge hammer to have any hope of getting it into hard ground. If there's rocks you've got no shot at all of driving that huge piece of metal into the ground.