On Mar 23, 1:57 pm, JJ Sinclair wrote:
JJ, I agree with you and defer to your experience. However, I'd be
concerned

with tying down the cuffs from the front only. The spar being further back,
wouldn't there be risk of the cuff exerting too much downward pressure on
the unsupported leading edge of the wing?

Yes, but that would (could) exert undue pressure on the trailing edge
(ailerons & flaps)
Definitely use a wing stand under the spar with a wide padded area.
The dinky one that came with your Cobra trailer isn't wide enough.

I, and a few others I've seen, will often survey the ramp before an incoming
storm, checking tie-downs and trying to fix those that look shaky. People
that leave their gliders out during real blows are braver than me.

Yep, the last one I saw had two G-103's break loose and one slid up-
side-down into another bird. An intense discussion then ensued about
inadequate tie-downs. Finally a local judge ruled that it had been an
act of nature and the Hit'er didn't owe the Hit'ee any compensation. I
picked it up on the salvage market and she's flying today. BTW, next
winters project is a Puchacz that experienced a sage-brush landing at
Minden. The instructior (smallish gal) pulled the plug at 1000' to
test her student's (big guy) rope-break abilities. An intense
discussion then ensued about which runway would be most appropriate
(left back to 30 or right to 16). They fought and finally nestled (not
so gently) into the sagebrush about halfway between the two runways.
Bad spiral broken boom, but I just found a good rear-end from a spun-
in Puch, a little cut & paste and she'll live to fly again!
:) JJ

JJ

Do you sell "block time" for your workshop/repair services? Maybe
people tying down their gliders at Minden for long periods of time can
purchase some in advance.

When I've flown the Tropic Bird Duo out of Minden a few times and each
time if it is windy I check the tie downs of nearby gliders. More
usual than not there is something sloppy nearby to re-tie. The local
aluminum can Blanik being poorly tied down on many occasions. Some
owners/clubs are so careless in windy conditions continuously retieing
*their* gliders is frustrating and probably puts off the inevitable
when their glider is going to take out somebody else's expensive toy.
It is almost like we'd do more of a favor to the rest of the community
by towing the glider to the nearest downwind part of the ramp and let
it "go free"....

Darryl