"Mike the Strike" wrote in message
ps.com...
"The landing direction indicator--A tetrahedron is installed when
conditions at the airport warrant its use. It may be used to indicate
the direction of landings and takeoffs. A Tetrahedron may be located at
the center of a segmented circle and may be lighted for night
operations. The small end of the tetrahedron points in the direction of
landing. Pilots are cautioned against using the tetrahedron for any
purpose other than as an indicator of landing direction. Further,
pilots should use extreme caution when making runway selection by use
of a tetrahedron in very light or calm wind conditions as the
tetrahedron may not be aligned with the designated calm-wind runway."

Says it all. That's why I call for surface winds before I land.



Still does not answer the OP's specific question.

2) Allowed to be pinned down to show active runway
3) Supposed to pivot freely with the wind direction

The AIM specifically says that a wind tee may be manually pointed (if
another wind direction locator is co-located), but it does not say the same for
a tetrahedron. They may MEAN that it is OK to manually point it, they just
don't say it; and they say nothing about any requirement to co-locate a wind
direction indicator with a tetrahedron.

I say the question is still open.

Vaughn