Tie down sleeve for Ventus 2

I would recommend against using any fiberglass sleeve
that slips over the wing as a tiedown. They will tend
to pull on the control surfaces, unless you make them
so that the controls can move full travel within the
sleeve. And even if you do that, you will not be applying
the load where it is good for the wing. You will either
be pulling from the leading edge, or you will be pulling
in the middle of the bottom side of the sleeve, where
it will pull away from the wing and try to pinch the
leading and trailing edges.

Does your glider have a CG Hook? If so, make yourself
a short rope from 3/8ths hollow braid polypropelene,
or similar. On one end, put a chain link or a Tost
ring. Put a loop in the other end. Secure the loop
to the ground (through one of those tie-down rings
on paved ramps, or a good tie-down stake you put in
them move the plane over), and hook the other to your
CG hook. Push the glider back until the rope goes
tight, and block the wheel. Tie the tail aft to another
tiedown, and put stands under the wings.

As long as you rope goes 30 to 45 degrees forward of
straight down, you should not have to worry about back
releasing. Load to this towhook (for ground launching)
is generally between 80 to 100 percent of gross weight
for the weak link. So, the structure is probably designed
to handle at least two times this. And to get load
on this equal to two times the gross weight, would
require lift production equal to 4 to 5 times the empty
weight. (remember, the wing has to lift the empty weight
before it can start loading the hitch).

Pluses: No sleeves on the wings to load up your control
surfaces or hold moisture against your gelcoat. And,
have you looked at those sleves and gotten an idea
as to how much load they could really handle? I bet
most would come apart at a less than a couple of hundred
pounds. The tow hook is a designed in strong point
in the airframe, made to handle big loads. If you
put the tail dolly on, the angle of attack will be
low enough that with flaps set to negative, it would
probably take 100 MPH winds to even start loading that
tiedown rope, if it ever got loaded.

Just a thought.

Steve

"Steve Leonard" wrote in message
...

Does your glider have a CG Hook?

You just hit a pet subject of mine.

All glider tie-down systems, particularly permanent tie-downs, should include
an attachment to the tow hook. I have seen at least two otherwise properly tied
down gliders ruined by being blown over backwards by thunderstorm winds. In my
judgment, both of them would have survived had there been a tie-down anchor
attached to the tow hook.

Why would you NOT attach a tie-down to the strongest, most convenient point on
the airframe?

Vaughn

On Mar 23, 9:59 pm, Steve Leonard
Does your glider have a CG Hook? If so, make yourself
a short rope from 3/8ths hollow braid polypropelene,
or similar. On one end, put a chain link or a Tost
ring. Put a loop in the other end. Secure the loop
to the ground (through one of those tie-down rings
on paved ramps, or a good tie-down stake you put in
them move the plane over), and hook the other to your
CG hook. Push the glider back until the rope goes
tight, and block the wheel. Tie the tail aft to another
tiedown, and put stands under the wings.

Works great at Hobbs, which is where I started using it. You didn't
copy me did you


Andy (GY)

On Mar 24, 2:40 pm, "Andy" wrote:
On Mar 23, 9:59 pm, Steve Leonard

Does your glider have a CG Hook? If so, make yourself
a short rope from 3/8ths hollow braid polypropelene,
or similar. On one end, put a chain link or a Tost
ring. Put a loop in the other end. Secure the loop
to the ground (through one of those tie-down rings
on paved ramps, or a good tie-down stake you put in
them move the plane over), and hook the other to your
CG hook. Push the glider back until the rope goes
tight, and block the wheel. Tie the tail aft to another
tiedown, and put stands under the wings.

Works great at Hobbs, which is where I started using it. You didn't
copy me did you

Andy (GY)

Andy: Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try. Dick

My Ventus B has removable wingtips...Dave Nelson build
some wood plugs that fit into the holes the wingtips
insert into. I remove the wingtips, insert the wood
dowels...use the wingstand on one side and the wingwheel
on the other...and then tie down to the wooden dowels
sticking out of the end of the wings.

On Mar 24, 9:22 pm, Stewart Kissel
wrote:
My Ventus B has removable wingtips...Dave Nelson build
some wood plugs that fit into the holes the wingtips
insert into. I remove the wingtips, insert the wood
dowels...use the wingstand on one side and the wingwheel
on the other...and then tie down to the wooden dowels
sticking out of the end of the wings.

Stewart" Thanks for the suggestion. Dick

Whatever else you do, if strongs winds are possible
then securely tie down (not weigh down) the wing tips
if they are sitting on unstable tripod stands.

In a serious wind, if the glider is facing into wind
then the wings can fly and bend up away from the stands
which then fall over and the wings then can bang up
and down on the fallen stands - which, in the case
of Cobra types, have sharp pointy bits that stick up
when the little legs are folded.

We had this happen to a Duo a few years ago - the wings
tips were weighed down by being tied to 25kg water
bottles which just lifted with the wing tip. The same
day an ASH 25 had its wings lifted and its stands blow
over but it then blew backwards 10 yards so the tips
land on grass and not the stands.

I now chock the wheel front and back, use stable old
fashioned wooden wing trestles and tie down the tips
with sleeves attached to 'The Claw'

John Galloway

On Mar 25, 12:23 pm, John Galloway wrote:
Whatever else you do, if strongs winds are possible
then securely tie down (not weigh down) the wing tips
if they are sitting on unstable tripod stands.

In a serious wind, if the glider is facing into wind
then the wings can fly and bend up away from the stands
which then fall over and the wings then can bang up
and down on the fallen stands - which, in the case
of Cobra types, have sharp pointy bits that stick up
when the little legs are folded.

We had this happen to a Duo a few years ago - the wings
tips were weighed down by being tied to 25kg water
bottles which just lifted with the wing tip. The same
day an ASH 25 had its wings lifted and its stands blow
over but it then blew backwards 10 yards so the tips
land on grass and not the stands.

I now chock the wheel front and back, use stable old
fashioned wooden wing trestles and tie down the tips
with sleeves attached to 'The Claw'

John Galloway

John: Thanks for the information. It is helpful. Dick