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Dennis.Kirby(at)kirtland.
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 Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:29 pm Post subject: Re: Tie downs, gust locks |
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Here's another amazing (and true) Tie Down story:
Mid-80s, central Ohio, a warm summer Saturday morning, I flew with my
girlfriend (now my bride of 19 years) in the Aero Club Tomahawk from
Fairborn to Urbana (20 miles) for breakfast at the airfield caf. The
excellent food at this restaurant made it well-known as an ideal fly-in
eating destination (the $100 hamburger). Lots of other fly-in patrons were
there that particular calm July morning. Not a breath of wind all day. 6
aircraft were parked outside (our Tomahawk, an Aeronca, a Grumman AA-1, a
Swift, two Cessnas), but NOT tied down. After all, there was no wind that
day.
Suddenly, one of the pilots stood up, pointed to the window with an
astonished look and said, "What the heck is that?" Everybody looked at
once. There was a cornfield adjacent to the runway. About 100 yards out,
in the middle of the cornfield, the corn stalks were bending down sideways,
being blown over by what was obviously a huge gust of wind. And the wave of
sideways cornstalks was moving right toward us!
You never saw a restaurant empty so fast! It was chaos. Everybody was
scrambling madly to their planes, chairs getting knocked over, tables
getting bumped, food & drinks spilling off tables, pilots bumping into each
other while making for the only door to the tarmac, all with a singular
mission - like the Keystone Kops! I admit that I was one of those
complacent, non-tied-down pilots.
This gust was like a "rogue wave" you hear about in nautical stories - a
giant freak wave, rising from nowhere on a calm sea. The gust hit the
airport and provided a sustained 30 mph wind for about one minute. All
those unsecured airplanes started to waltz like I've never witnessed before:
They were all twirling and pirouetting around each other in smooth and
graceful arcs. High wings crossing over low wings, wingtips passing within
inches of the neighboring airplanes ... and all the while, their frantic
owners in and amongst the twirling airplanes. Pilots darting, ducking,
grabbing for a wing or a tail - like being in a moving obstacle course! (I
remember one guy got whacked in the butt pretty hard by the leading edge of
the AA-1 while holding onto the wing of his Cessna. Sent him tumbling in a
backwards summersault over the top of the Yankee wing - he never saw it
coming! After rolling across the top of the wing, he landed on the ground,
squarely on his feet behind the trailing edge of the wing. His bewildered
look didn't exactly communicate that "Yeah, I meant to do that!"
The amazing part is: Not one single aircraft contacted another. By the
time the dust settled, and all those frazzled pilots reconvened, we could
not believe how lucky we all were. Could've been a disaster.
Yeah, I learned my lesson: "Always tie your airplane down, even if it
doesn't seem windy." I got to learn this one the easy way.
Dennis Kirby
Mark-III, N93DK "Magic Bike" in
Cedar Crest, New Mexico
do not archive
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rowedl(at)highstream.net
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| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 3:32 pm Post subject: Re: Tie downs, gust locks |
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Great story Dennis!
Do not archive
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