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Chock Or Set Brakes On Ground?


Jim Meade

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I am not trying to teach anyone to suck eggs, but for the benefit of pilots who haven't parked at a busy FBO, it might be worth the repetition to note that in nearly all cases, the airplane should be chocked and the brakes should NOT be set.

 

At a busy FBO, especially if you will stay over night, it is not uncommon for the FBO to reposition your airplane so that it is out of the way. In every case I can recall, the FBO wants the plane to be left with the brakes OFF. Typically, the FBO will have a mechanical mule of some description that will either pick up the front wheel or have a tow bar to the front wheel. The line boy will very likely not even look in your airplane to see if the brake is off, even if he knew what to look for.

 

Many light planes are so easy to move the tow machine would hardly give any evidence if the brake was set. The first indication might be the tires leaving black marks or the brakes squealing or smoking.

 

Cirrus owners have a few very sad stories of brakes that got so hot from being towed that they burned the airplane.

 

Most FBOs have chocks. They might be missing or they might be too big for CT wheel pants, so it's not a bad idea to have your own if you can afford the space and weight. Same thing with tie down ropes and stakes.

 

I know you all know this stuff, so just ignore it. Or maybe you have a funny or sad story to illustrate your own preference.

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I have not had this experience yet, but I wonder how many would pay attention to the "no power tugs" on my nose wheel fairing. I hate to even have someone help me push my plane, they always latch on to the wing or the stabilator.

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I put No Push placards from Sportys on both sides of the stabilator near the empenage, where many folks used to Cessnas seem to want to push. I also put No Step on the wheel pants, and I hang a Do Not Tow banner over the front wheel. The latter failed to keep an overzealous FBO guy from putting a tow bar on the front wheel nuts and scratching the wheel pant. WF

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All right, how do you quote more than one block of text in one reply?

 

Sample of a comment to above post.

 

snapback.png207WF, on 22 July 2013 - 08:32 PM, said:

I put No Push placards from Sportys on both sides of the stabilator near the empenage, where many folks used to Cessnas seem to want to push. I also put No Step on the wheel pants, and I hang a Do Not Tow banner over the front wheel. The latter failed to keep an overzealous FBO guy from putting a tow bar on the front wheel nuts and scratching the wheel pant. WF

 

snapback.pngJim Meade, on 23 July 2013 - 07:08 AM, said:

All right, how do you quote more than one block of text in one reply?

 

 

Like that?

 

Jim,

 

Select the "MultQuote" button on each post you would like to respond to. The button is located on the lower-right-bottom of each post desired.

 

Once you are in the text edit box, you can comment between the individual posts, by entering your text between the "quotes#########" brackets.

 

The result will look like this post.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Bill I

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There is another step.

  1. Click the MultiQuote button for each post that you want to quote.
  2. Click the 'Reply to x post(s) button in the pop up to populate your reply with the quotes.
  3. Click More Reply Options button to get a bigger editor and see how your quotes will display.
  4. Insert your replies between the quotes

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