Have any aircraft blown over?
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Scotland
Age: 84
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Although that one looks as if its been swiveled and is getting the wind up the chuff which will reverse the direction of rotation which is really a bad idea for most of the components.
Can't help pointing to the youtube video of one exploding due to an overspeed:
One wonders whether you could end up with sympathetic detonation on a large wind farm.
Like the Tommie personally - glad to hear it's not an active one.
One wonders whether you could end up with sympathetic detonation on a large wind farm.
Like the Tommie personally - glad to hear it's not an active one.
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One of my many stories............
During my latter high school days, one of my classmate’s fathers very kindly allowed me the use of his Cessna 172 every Sunday. It was their family preference to follow their spiritual path on Sundays, and this did not involve the use of the plane. In his kindness, father thought that I would enjoy the use of the aircraft those days, and I certainly did!
The plane was kept tied down at a local grass runway which was everything that a 172 could want. The residents at that farm, though not aviators, certainly made every effort to help, and came to rely on me for aircraft matters. I became the sort of caretaker of the plane, always willing to do what I could to keep things in order to repay the generosity.
The only other aircraft to reside at that runway, was a Seabee, which I never saw fly, and whose owner I never met. It was tied down several hundred feet away, across the “apron” such as it was. Both planes were tied down to stacks of patio stones, around which ropes had been tied Flintstone’s style. Nobody had ever bothered to actually hammer in stakes to make proper tiedowns. It seemed to work, for a while…
Early one morning, the lady of the farm phoned me, and with a very upset tone, stuttered out “the planes blew into each other over night, come and do something!” Uh oh, I was the last one to tie down the 172, and those Seabees are pretty dense, so if a plane was blowing around, it must somehow be my fault. Needless to say, school had to wait…
I arrived on scene to find the 172 exactly as I had left it, with the only difference being the Seabee shadowing it! The two planes were nose to nose, at ninety degrees to each other, and the Seabee wing was right over the 172 wing, without having touched it at all! The only contact was the tiedown rope of the Seabee wing, which still had the pile of patio stones attached, now took a path from the Seabee wing tiedown fitting, over the trailing edge of the 172 aileron, and straight down from there to the now swinging stack of patio stones! There was a crease in the trailing edge of the aileron, but with the weight of those concrete slabs, I was amazed that the aileron was not completely folded into the rear spar. What a relief! I had not failed the 172 and its owner!
The Seabee, on the other hand was in rough shape. It had obviously cartwheeled across the apron, as both wingtip floats were torn off, the wing tips curled up, and the rudder and aft fuselage damaged. The fact that the wing tip float was gone by the time it got to the 172 saved the day, as it would have really hurt the Cessna wing of it had hit.
After great effort cutting and untying tiedown ropes, and moving the 172 bit by bit, I got it out from under the Seabee, and made it a new home a safe distance away. With some delicate bending, I got the aileron looking pretty presentable. I retied the Seabee patio stones, lest it come to even more harm.
The 172 received the required inspection to assure that the aileron control system had not come to harm, and it was fine. The Seabee sat there for some time in its damaged state, with my knots in the tiedown rope, and then one day was gone. It sure did not fly out!
During my latter high school days, one of my classmate’s fathers very kindly allowed me the use of his Cessna 172 every Sunday. It was their family preference to follow their spiritual path on Sundays, and this did not involve the use of the plane. In his kindness, father thought that I would enjoy the use of the aircraft those days, and I certainly did!
The plane was kept tied down at a local grass runway which was everything that a 172 could want. The residents at that farm, though not aviators, certainly made every effort to help, and came to rely on me for aircraft matters. I became the sort of caretaker of the plane, always willing to do what I could to keep things in order to repay the generosity.
The only other aircraft to reside at that runway, was a Seabee, which I never saw fly, and whose owner I never met. It was tied down several hundred feet away, across the “apron” such as it was. Both planes were tied down to stacks of patio stones, around which ropes had been tied Flintstone’s style. Nobody had ever bothered to actually hammer in stakes to make proper tiedowns. It seemed to work, for a while…
Early one morning, the lady of the farm phoned me, and with a very upset tone, stuttered out “the planes blew into each other over night, come and do something!” Uh oh, I was the last one to tie down the 172, and those Seabees are pretty dense, so if a plane was blowing around, it must somehow be my fault. Needless to say, school had to wait…
I arrived on scene to find the 172 exactly as I had left it, with the only difference being the Seabee shadowing it! The two planes were nose to nose, at ninety degrees to each other, and the Seabee wing was right over the 172 wing, without having touched it at all! The only contact was the tiedown rope of the Seabee wing, which still had the pile of patio stones attached, now took a path from the Seabee wing tiedown fitting, over the trailing edge of the 172 aileron, and straight down from there to the now swinging stack of patio stones! There was a crease in the trailing edge of the aileron, but with the weight of those concrete slabs, I was amazed that the aileron was not completely folded into the rear spar. What a relief! I had not failed the 172 and its owner!
The Seabee, on the other hand was in rough shape. It had obviously cartwheeled across the apron, as both wingtip floats were torn off, the wing tips curled up, and the rudder and aft fuselage damaged. The fact that the wing tip float was gone by the time it got to the 172 saved the day, as it would have really hurt the Cessna wing of it had hit.
After great effort cutting and untying tiedown ropes, and moving the 172 bit by bit, I got it out from under the Seabee, and made it a new home a safe distance away. With some delicate bending, I got the aileron looking pretty presentable. I retied the Seabee patio stones, lest it come to even more harm.
The 172 received the required inspection to assure that the aileron control system had not come to harm, and it was fine. The Seabee sat there for some time in its damaged state, with my knots in the tiedown rope, and then one day was gone. It sure did not fly out!
Join Date: Feb 2009
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tin;
It was early into the use of the ATR 72 by BritWorld, I would guess around late 1995-early 1996. I was still based there then. The aircraft was parked at the main terminal, the crew had just re-boarded after their break when a gust went under the port wing (IIRC) and blew the aircraft onto the starboard tip.
No-one really liked the ATR on that route ecause we had all been spoiled by the wonderful Viscounts, on our crew room wall at the time was a Pilot Mag article by Andy Foan describing the handling as "Ghastly, Ghastly."
After the Viscounts the ATR seemed cramped and fragile with poor crosswind limits for the type of weather and airfields up there. Having never sat through a go-around into Sumburgh in the Viscount, other than for cloud below limits I sat through 3 in as many trips on the ATR.
SND
It was early into the use of the ATR 72 by BritWorld, I would guess around late 1995-early 1996. I was still based there then. The aircraft was parked at the main terminal, the crew had just re-boarded after their break when a gust went under the port wing (IIRC) and blew the aircraft onto the starboard tip.
No-one really liked the ATR on that route ecause we had all been spoiled by the wonderful Viscounts, on our crew room wall at the time was a Pilot Mag article by Andy Foan describing the handling as "Ghastly, Ghastly."
After the Viscounts the ATR seemed cramped and fragile with poor crosswind limits for the type of weather and airfields up there. Having never sat through a go-around into Sumburgh in the Viscount, other than for cloud below limits I sat through 3 in as many trips on the ATR.
SND
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Daventry UK
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I don't understand why there is such great reluctance to tie down in UK. Proper tie down rings or cables are vanishingly rare and anyone securing their plane with portable tie downs, as I do, is viewed with barely controlled derision by the occupants of the clubhouse.
I use the 'claw', not a concrete block or even worse a spiral thing. My daughter had one of those for her horse and one day he took exception to it. It was truly amazing how it straighted into a long piece of wiggly wire as he pulled it out of the ground. I saw exactly the same thing a few months ago with a 172 that wanted to bolt and helped the owner to wind the useless things back into the ground before it flipped over onto my plane, and then lent him my spare claw for the windward side.
The same goes for the bits of washing line that people use to secure their bits of concrete. If you ask them if they'd stand under the block while you hoisted with a crane, they wouldn't, but some how it's OK to hold down an aircraft able to lift a ton or so with some old string. And that's before you count the number of propeller tips that have been lost to these useless bit of cement.
In my opinion, 40kts of actual wind is pretty sporting for an empty Cessna. I'd want it properly secured long before that.
I use the 'claw', not a concrete block or even worse a spiral thing. My daughter had one of those for her horse and one day he took exception to it. It was truly amazing how it straighted into a long piece of wiggly wire as he pulled it out of the ground. I saw exactly the same thing a few months ago with a 172 that wanted to bolt and helped the owner to wind the useless things back into the ground before it flipped over onto my plane, and then lent him my spare claw for the windward side.
The same goes for the bits of washing line that people use to secure their bits of concrete. If you ask them if they'd stand under the block while you hoisted with a crane, they wouldn't, but some how it's OK to hold down an aircraft able to lift a ton or so with some old string. And that's before you count the number of propeller tips that have been lost to these useless bit of cement.
In my opinion, 40kts of actual wind is pretty sporting for an empty Cessna. I'd want it properly secured long before that.
Join Date: Jan 2003
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david viewing,
The claw is fantastic! It's not us, it's everybody else mate
Only downside is when you've hammered the pins really firm into the soft ground the day before, there comes a freeze overnight and you're trying to get the damn things out first thing!
The claw is fantastic! It's not us, it's everybody else mate
Only downside is when you've hammered the pins really firm into the soft ground the day before, there comes a freeze overnight and you're trying to get the damn things out first thing!
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For that reason I carry a lump hammer to knock them in and a housebreakers' jemmy to get them out again. These items double as 'survival equipment' in parts of Scandinavia where such things are mandated.
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its quite a nice design that claw.
Reminds me of the old anchor plates we used to use with turfer winches for recovery.
There pins used to have a hole in the top.
To help you get them out.
And for 50 quid plus p&p a resonable price as well.
Just make sure you are vertical to your tie down points.
Reminds me of the old anchor plates we used to use with turfer winches for recovery.
There pins used to have a hole in the top.
To help you get them out.
And for 50 quid plus p&p a resonable price as well.
Just make sure you are vertical to your tie down points.
