Tie Down Ropes Dangerous? Yes!

[Unregistered]

I am a new Student with just 7.2hrs to be exact. I did my flight today. Wonderful day..felt really good about things. Taxied back and making our turn to park, we crossed over the tail tie down rope within a split second was sucked up into the prop, stopping the engine dead. Once it registered with my CFI what had happened his jaw was on the floor. He quickly secured the panel. We climbed out to find the broken tie down rope wedged in tight behind the fiberglass spinner. A tiny hair-line 'fracture' in the gel coat on the spinner rear edge. It took a few minutes for him to get the rope out of it though. The Prop appeared fine thankfully but the plane has now been removed from service pending inspection and pretty much took me out of action for this weekend’s training, potentially longer depending on what they find. (Tire pressures checked fine, Nose gear height appeared normal and I didnt see any fluid leaks, etc. But I am not a professional aircraft mechanic)

My CFI who I have great respect for seemed pretty shocked and said he'd never seen that happen before. As we were clearing our fouled prop.. a Cirrus had crossed his line without issue and a ATP student and his CFI has crossed theirs without incident as well.

I was waiting for my instructor to tell me to get lost, I feel totally awful about the whole thing. Glad the rope didnt part and send a piece hurling into neighboring aircraft or anyone on the ramp for that matter. I've never received instruction on not crossing over them and I would bet a lot of pilots have seen it/done it without thinking about it as well.

In my short time I don’t claim to much of anything (yet) but I know it's a really miserable feeling to be the guy in the left seat when equipment gets damaged.

Please secure those tie-downs!

Be Well,
~ A very embarrassed Student.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Did a web search and found an incident on this web site:

http://www.ndcap.us/dept/safety_alert.htm

"While taxiing out to fly an AFROTC Cadet Orientation flight, the pilot taxied across a parking row instead of following the taxiway. He accelerated while crossing over a tiedown rope and it was picked up by the prop. Before the engine could be stopped, the tiedown rope had damaged the prop, spinner, bulkhead and the lower cowl.

Normally, a pilot can taxi into a parking spot over a tiedown rope without the prop picking it up. This is because the aircraft is close to idle power and slowing down. To increase power and accelerate through a tiedown area is just asking for trouble. There are numerous hazards in a parking area - chocks, grounding wires, ropes, tiedown cables, people and other aircraft. It may take a little longer to taxi on the taxiway, but you can feel confident that you'll encounter fewer hazards."

(A bunch of other prop strike incidents on that web page that show some things to be wary of.)

The tie-downs used for the airplanes at the field I fly out of are metal chains with S hooks on the ends. While anything is possible, I'm not too worried about one of those getting picked up by a prop.