The limits of chocking?

AlleyCat67

AlleyCat67

Pre-takeoff checklist
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AleyCat67
When I have an overnight stay at a Class C airport (or even some Class D's) its pretty common not to have tie down rings available. Instead the line guy says "don't worry, we'll double chock you". But given summer thunderstorm season, I'm always wondering what will happen if a Tstorm pops up with high winds.

I've assumed that if the gusts are less than Vs1 (55kts for me) then my plane won't go anywhere if chocked. But is that really true? Or is there some probability of my plane skipping its chocks and bashing around the ramp at a lower wind speed? And what do other small piston flyers do at a Class C? Take your chances, or ask for a hangar?
 
Carry the tie down rings with you in your flight bag or somewhere in the plane or even installed all the time. I'm not sure what double chocking even means.
172 tied down and chocked on both mains, still broke free and started rolling down the parked area. luckily the line guys saw it and was able to catch it before it hit anything.
My LSA has the tie down rings installed all the time in case we end up someplace other than home because of weather or mechanicals.
 
Nub_Pilot said:
Carry the tie down rings with you in your flight bag or somewhere in the plane or even installed all the time. I'm not sure what double chocking even means.
172 tied down and chocked on both mains, still broke free and started rolling down the parked area. luckily the line guys saw it and was able to catch it before it hit anything.
My LSA has the tie down rings installed all the time in case we end up someplace other than home because of weather or mechanicals.
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Yep I carry my tie down straps with me, but at bigger airports there are no rings, and the apron is concrete (so no chance of pounding your own tie down stakes into the ground). That's when it seems like its chocks or nothing.
 
I'd say chocks are completely useless in a t-storm as your concern is enough of a wind gust getting under the wing to flip the plane over.

Depending on the situation maybe keep an eye on the weather and if something is coming call the FBO and ask them to pull it into their hangar.
 
AlleyCat67 said:
Yep I carry my tie down straps with me, but at bigger airports there are no rings, and the apron is concrete (so no chance of pounding your own tie down stakes into the ground). That's when it seems like its chocks or nothing.
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Push it off the edge into the grass someplace? But for storms, a hangar is usually the best option if you can get it.
 
Option three…couple 2x4s strapped to the top of the wings as spoilers.
 
Chocks, single, double, or in large piles.

I landed at an airport just west of Lincoln, Nebraska, and tied the C172 down withy heavy nylon lines, to substantial rings in the concrete.

My host asked if I had the plane in the hanger, as we drove to his house. I said "No", he considered turning around, then decided that the prediction was OK, and we continued to his house.

We planned a sight seeing flight, first thing in the morning, when the temperature would be milder. The date was the end of August, and humidity was very high.


At breakfast, the storm warning went off in their television for possible violent thunderstorms with hail and high winds.

Empty tractor trailers were blown over, Interstate signs for MacDonald's and other chains blew down, and his corn crop became a field of foot high stubs.

My plane was twisted from the orientation of the tiedown enough that the landing gear was depressed 3 or 4 inches.

Double chocks would have been useless that morning.

My plane was the only one not in the hanger. It was still airworthy, happily, and a day later we flew on to Colorado Springs for my father in laws WW 2 fighter squadron reunion.

Chocks will not even keep a light plane in place if some clown does a runup in front of your plane.
 
EdFred said:
Option two: Buy heavier plane with higher stall speed. :D
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Was working the ramp at Chicago O'Hare and witnessed (after the fact) a Beech 18 that was chocked get blown by the wind 'til it's tail hit a chain link fence a 100 yards from where it was parked. This was in a far away corner of the airfield and the Beech was in long term, non-flyable storage. Lucky it hit a fence. If the wind had blown it in a different direction, it might have eventually been blown over to an active runway.
 
Cordless hammer drill and anchor bolts. I'm sure they won't mind
 
AlleyCat67 said:
But given summer thunderstorm season, I'm always wondering what will happen if a Tstorm pops up with high winds.
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You find out if your insurance carrier really will give you the full amount of the hull coverage you’ve been paying for?
 
Racerx said:
Cordless hammer drill and anchor bolts. I'm sure they won't mind
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I was just going to post - tapcons and a cordless drill. If the concrete is solid they'll hold pretty well, certainly better than chocks, and they're fast to install. In the grand scheme of things, what are 3 1/4" holes in a thousand acres of concrete.
 
Racerx said:
Cordless hammer drill and anchor bolts. I'm sure they won't mind
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Petzl Coeur Pulse removable bolts. They only know if they find the holes. You could drill them by hand if you have an hour or hard labor in your arms.
https://rope-master.com/en/anchors/...-function-coeur-pulse-12mm-3342540815889.html

https://rope-master.com/en/anchors/2717-hand-drill-rocpec-3342540038462.html

Edit: actually faster and cheaper are the Simpson Strongtie Titan-HD screw-bolts. They hold several thousand pounds and you can unscrew them as well.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson...Duty-Screw-Anchor-50-Pack-THD37212H/205225111
 
DaleB said:
You find out if your insurance carrier really will give you the full amount of the hull coverage you’ve been paying for?
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Interesting question. If you aren’t tied down or in a hangar does the insurance company get to claim negligent operation and squirrel out of paying? Maybe I need to read my policy a bit closer.
 
Albany Tom said:
I was just going to post - tapcons and a cordless drill. If the concrete is solid they'll hold pretty well, certainly better than chocks, and they're fast to install. In the grand scheme of things, what are 3 1/4" holes in a thousand acres of concrete.
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I’m partial to Ramset hammer shot for setting screws in concrete. What could go wrong with firing a bunch of 22 caliber shots at an airport?
 
I remember seeing those explosive anchor bolt things that will embed themselves in anything with just a tap of a hammer on the top.

Think of it as doing them a favor for the next guy. :cool:
 
My Maule might’ve survived if it had been tied out, but it got wrecked in the hangar along with a Comanche and all 3 mechanics’ pickups.

on second thought, I doubt the tiedowns would have held in 115-kt winds.
Would’ve been really traumatic having my airplane wrecked had I not been hidin go under the plow truck in the back hangar at the time.
 
There was a storm pushed across KOUN ( Norman, OK ) earlier this year w/tennis ball sized hail and 80 mph winds. Totaled everything on the ramp.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
Petzl Coeur Pulse removable bolts. They only know if they find the holes. You could drill them by hand if you have an hour or hard labor in your arms.
https://rope-master.com/en/anchors/...-function-coeur-pulse-12mm-3342540815889.html

https://rope-master.com/en/anchors/2717-hand-drill-rocpec-3342540038462.html

Edit: actually faster and cheaper are the Simpson Strongtie Titan-HD screw-bolts. They hold several thousand pounds and you can unscrew them as well.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson...Duty-Screw-Anchor-50-Pack-THD37212H/205225111
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The strong tie or Hilti screw in style anchors are the type we use when using temporary shoring and the type what I was thinking of. The first ones you listed are pretty nifty and have a tie down loop already there. Might have to think of a use for them
 
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MauleSkinner said:
Option three…couple 2x4s strapped to the top of the wings as spoilers.
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Apparently your flight instructor didn't explain the 'Streamline Squeezing "Theory"' and how obstructions to the airflow create Bernoulli lift. So, your 2x4s should make things worse.

:)

I'm impressed with how long the chocks held...
 
Zeldman said:
Elevator in the up position, possibly seatbelt used as a gust lock.
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Not much help if the wind hits from the side and lifts one of the wings. After an April 2009 storm at my home airport in Ottawa, Canada, where all the planes had been tied down (my airplane was safe):

RockcliffeStormDamage-0409g.jpg
 
I'd part int he grass and use my homebuilt tie downs. That said, were I concerned about T storms I'd rent a hangar or get gone.
 
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