I just read the AOPA ePilot Flight Training Edition -- Vol. 4, Issue 4 from

"Tom Fleischman" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
In article , Dan Luke
wrote:

"Roger Bartholomee" wrote:
The author says "It's important to leave a little slack in each
line, especially if you are expecting gusty wind conditions.
Slack will allow the airplane to move a little. Without any
slack, a strong gust could damage the airframe."

Utter bulls---.

AOPA should fix this.

There is, however, an exception.

In some airplanes, like a Bonanza or Debonair, the CG moves aft as fuel
is burned.

So what? Even Cessnas do that.

If you tie down such an airplane when you return with empty
tanks and make the tail tiedown very tight, then when the FBO comes
along and fills the tanks the CG will move forward putting a lot of
stress on the tail tiedown.

Only if the nose is not already resting on its gear. If you are worried
about that, then you sure don't want to see what happens in the maintenance
hangar when they are working on your nose gear.

Pulling on a tail tiedown should not damage it. If it does, the tiedown is
too weak to be useful in a windstorm anyway. The thing that damages tail
tiedowns is smacking them on the runway during poorly executed takeoff and
landing operations. That can strip the threads on the tiedown and buckle the
bulkhead that the tiedown is attached to.