No-knot SlideDown tiedown

It was an eye-opening exercise, especially for student pilots who frequently have a CFI nearby to lend a hand (or two).

Enter SlideDown innovator and pilot Sal Corio, who has come to the rescue with a product that will make aircraft tiedown experts out of the other 80 percent of us.

About 10 years ago Corio took a camping trip idea that involved a rope, a tent, and a wooden block and morphed it into an aircraft security system that works as a knotless airplane tiedown. After watching several pilot friends struggle with their knot-tying skills, the Piper Archer owner says he knew he could “find a solution that anybody could use.” His goal was to take that basic camping idea and “make it easier, safer, and stronger.”

The patented device substitutes a machined aluminum cylinder for the wooden block, adds vinyl-coated eyelets at each end, and mates your airplane to the ground using a very strong, kernmantle braided rope to shore it up. A hook goes into the airplane’s tiedown ring, the other end fastens to the ground anchor, and sliding down the machined cylinder tightens the rope.

Shortly after designing the device in 2013, Corio arrived at his first EAA AirVenture as a vendor armed with a small booth—it was just a table and a sign—a big idea, and a crate of SlideDown ropes. Corio says he invited aviation writers and editors to come by the booth but was disappointed when he didn’t get any takers.

He eventually hunted down former AOPA Pilot magazine editor Tom Horne who was on deadline writing one of dozens of AirVenture-related stories. “Horne was typing away on his laptop and looked up long enough to say, ‘OK, you have 60 seconds’” to demonstrate the new device. “So now I’m all nervous and fumbling around figuring out how to anchor the SlideDown to the smooth floor. Finally, I just stepped on the lower hook, held the other hook above my head, and slid down the cylinder until the rope was tight.”

Horne stopped typing, looked up, and said, “Hey, let me see that again!” That’s when Corio knew he’d hit on something good.

SlideDown tiedowns have since been installed on numerous aircraft displayed at AOPA campuses during EAA AirVenture, the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo, and at scores of AOPA events. And they’re all made in the United States near Corio’s New England stomping grounds.

Rope colors can be substituted to match or contrast with your aircraft’s paint scheme for no extra charge. Custom engraving on the slide to match your airplane’s registration number, your name, or another phrase is an additional $20.

New for 2023 and to help celebrate 10 years in business is a smaller, more compact SlideDown LT version that can secure outdoors equipment to vehicles or other anchors, priced from $38.95 and up.

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