Jason Schappert, the blogger behind the MzeroA website, has recently posted a video guide showing how he ties down an aircraft. After all and as Jason pointed out, neither he nor many pilots are actually taught how to properly tie down an aircraft – which can be very important if you live in a windy location (or in the case of Jason, in Florida where there are hurricanes and tropical storms). Likewise, there are a number of different ways to properly tie down an aircraft.
In the video, Jason shows his method and he pointed out the importance of tying off the slack in the rope so that it does not blow around and cause damage to an aircraft. In addition, he emphasized that tying down an aircraft is not like stringing a guitar as if there is a windy day or a storm, you don’t want the aircraft so tightly tied down to the ground that it ends up getting damaged. In other words, you need to remember to leave some flex in the rope.
Jason also invited readers to post a comment in the comments section about any particular method they use to properly and securely tie down an aircraft and it would probably be interesting to hear from a few UK or Europe based pilots.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2AGOMD_kYg&w=480]