The International Cessna^® 170 Association

At the Alaska State Aviation Trade show a few weeks ago, there were 2 Siai-Marchetti Birdbogs that showed up. All you need is imagination and unlimited amounts of money to create one of these.

Ugly tail.

Well, the tail is ugly but with 317hp, it needs a bit more rudder authority than our 170s. It can cruise at 150 kts... I can barely make 100 mph.



How can you think the rest is ugly?

That little 25 lb. concrete block will make a nice hammer to thrash that machine if the wind ever picks it up off the ground. (If the airplane is designed to lift a ton or more.... how is that little rope and block gonna stop it?)
I always amazes me how some folks tie airplanes down. I've seen 'em with tiny little sun-damaged, threadbare polyurethane ropes tied down next to other expensive machinery. I hope they're insured.

George-
As usual you are technically correct. However, the static display at the Alaska Trade Show was staged on the FedEx hangar ramp which doesn't have tie-downs. They usually don't need to tie down the MD-11s. The concrete blocks actually weigh about 100# and were the best they could do considering the situation. They were only there to keep the planes from swinging around into each other in case the wind came up during the show (which it luckily did not). Not permanent tie-downs but better than nothing.

There were a few idiots that used the concrete blocks as permantent tie-downs a few years ago when the 100+mph sustained winds blew thru Anchorage. More than 100 planes were damaged or destroyed. I drove around the airport the morning after and saw several really expensive planes upside-down with the blocks still securly attached to the tie-down ropes!


pdb-
Ina and I were lucky enough to be asked to fly the camo paint SM-1019 (Turbine Birddog) you saw at the show from Oregon to Alaska last Febuary. I finally got to log some turbine PIC time! Only 20 hours but better than nothing. It is probably the best flying "Cessna" I have ever flown. Very stable with awesome vertical performance. The cruise performance is not so great though. It realistically will do 110kt at 18gph below 10,000' msl. You can run up the power to 25gph and it will cruise 120kt. The 150kt cruise only happens if you take it up above 20,000' msl. Not really feasible for most flying.

The picture was taken at Sitka, Alaska with Mt. Edgecomb volcano in the background.

hilltop170 wrote:.... However, the static display at the Alaska Trade Show was staged on the FedEx hangar ramp which doesn't have tie-downs. ...

A really simple and inexpensive tie down can be installed in such locations. The concrete ramp can be drilled and female, threaded inserts epoxied in place, below grade. When aircraft needing tie-downs arrive, simply provide eye-bolts to thread into the inserts. (Even better, leave the eye-bolts in place. They are so low they rarely cause any problem to any size aircraft.) This type insert can be obtained for about the same price as those concrete blocks. Labor would be addt'l. of course, but driling and epoxying would take about 20 mins per aircraft spot.

I also hate those long cable type of tie downs. They hazard every airplane attached to them. Oh. well. Didn't mean to hijack the thread. Sorry.

George

its hard to find them in December even when you know about where they are

I mean in Alaska

Hey Hijacker George-
No problem, the discussion is good. I don't know where the blocks came from but would assume they were donated and then recovered by the owner. With the Trade Show being a no-admission-fee affair, and FedEx donating their hangar, I doubt there is much extra money available for tie-downs used only two nights per year. The nut-in-the-ground idea would probably work but the snow plows would cut the eyes off if they were left in the nuts. In any case, the wind didn't blow and no planes were damaged. They lucked-out again.

The only thing those long cable tie-downs assure is that all of the planes will be piled up in a neat stack at the end of the cable. Ask the guys that had planes tie-down at Birchwood in 1983 when the annual winter blow came through.

The front view of the airplane reminds me of the weight lifters you see at Muscle Beach - Huge arms, chest and abdomen - but tiny little legs.

Hiltop170- Those things really are amazing airplanes. What sort of range did you have? Im surprised it does not have under wing tanks like the blue has had. At least for the flight up. I also see in your picture it had some GIGANTIC antennas. What were those? I see they are gone.

mod cessna-
The owner had the option of buying the drop tanks that hang under the wing on the hard points but decided not to since they were $8000.00 and kind of a hassle to use (more Rube Goldberg plumbing and automatic valving, etc). He decided it was not worth it.

The stock plane has four wing-mounted L-19 standard 21gal tanks. That gives right at 4 hours range which is really not bad. It's an automatic system and in spite of all the plumbing, switching valves, and wiring works very well to keep the fuel load balanced. You can also manually manage the fuel but I just left it in auto and kept a close eye on it.

The plane had had a whole bunch of military gear removed before the owner bought it but the old antennas were left in place to keep the holes covered up. The owner had all of the remaining military gear removed in Alaska and new com antennas (see first picture) were installed in place of the military antennas. Nobody knew what the military antennas were for.