14-13 tie-down points

[alfybill]

There are no tie-down points on my Cruisair, so I use the gear legs. They are much closer together than the ramp tie-downs and I don't have much confidence in the situation when I have to stay over at an airport due to weather.

Are there supposed to be tiedown points? Can I have them added? Planning some looong cross country trips this fall.

 

[crumast]

Bill,
I've got a 14-19 with the same situation. Main gear and tailwheel are the "mooring" locations. 6 -7 feet outboard of the mains, and slightly forward, according to the book. You may want to bring your own ropes. Tom Robinson

 

[bbarrett]

Bellanca added tiedown points at some point in the life of the 14-19-3. The manual has the same tie down advice as earlier Cruisemasters, but when I talked to the previous iteration of the factory, they said my tiedown rings were likely from the factory (I have one of the later -3s).

In a hard blow, I think securing the gear is a better idea than the factory tiedown downs. Neither the ring itself nor the attachment to the wing spar looks as strong as, say, a Cessna attach point. That said, with wheel chocks and the tiedowns, the plane doesn’t move much in the ground.

In my experience, even with the attach points in a normal place, if I’m leaving my plane somewhere long enough that I feel the need to tie it down, I bring my own ropes. I’ve had too many times where the airport provided ropes were either rotten or missing.