Aircraft Tiedown Test Results

Paul Bertorelli and Jeb Burnside of AvWeb and Aviation Consumer, recently conducted tests to determine how much pull force several commercially available aircraft tiedown systems will resist before yielding. If you’re in the market for a tiedown system for your airplane, sailplane, or trailer, you may be interested in the results of these tests. The tests are shown in the embedded YouTube videos and are written up as an article in the July, 2011 issue of Aviation Consumer. One personal note: I use a system called The Claw, which was tested by Jeb. According to his test, it worked much better in California soil than in the loamy Florida soil where Jeb conducted his tests. It didn’t emerge the ‘winner’ in the pull tests (see Paul’s video for that one), but it’s easy to use, relatively compact, and comes bundled as a kit with rope and a hammer included. The small hammer proved inadequate in hard soil, so I had to buy a larger rubber mallet to replace it. As Jeb says in his closing comments, none of the systems will withstand the maximum forces that can be imposed on an aircraft by a major storm. The best protection in a big blow is a hangar or tiedowns embedded in pavement.

We welcome comments and suggestions from SoaringCafé visitors. If you’ve had good or bad experiences with various kinds of tiedowns for gliders or trailers, let us hear about them.

Jeb Burnside’s Tests for AvWeb and Aviation Consumer

Paul Bertorelli’s Tests for AvWeb and Aviation Consumer