Winch Launch Stresses on Vintage Gliders

Andy, that's a good question. Actually, as far as I know, there isn't a way
to visually inspect then once they are assembled into the protective case.
One wonders why.

It would be easy to dip one end of the slotted links in, say, tan paint.
Seeing a link assembly with two white dogbones but with one showing a tan
end would indicate that the link had been assembled correctly.

Bill Daniels


"Andy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Is it possible to see that one is slotted and one round holed when the
cable is ready to be hooked up to the glider? Surely the pilot must
be given the opportunity to inspect the links before accepting the
cable. It's a while since I winched and we used rope weak links then.

Andy

We use a system where the weak link is held in an H channel with one end
hole drilled and the other slotted so that the end bolt is supported but
can pull out when the link breaks.

This gives a good protection to the link. We found that the metal
shrouds bent and also you couldn't see the link colour. With the H
channel you can see the whole link.

Robin

In message , Bill Daniels
writes
Andy, that's a good question. Actually, as far as I know, there isn't a way
to visually inspect then once they are assembled into the protective case.
One wonders why.

It would be easy to dip one end of the slotted links in, say, tan paint.
Seeing a link assembly with two white dogbones but with one showing a tan
end would indicate that the link had been assembled correctly.

Bill Daniels


"Andy" wrote in message
roups.com...
Is it possible to see that one is slotted and one round holed when the
cable is ready to be hooked up to the glider? Surely the pilot must
be given the opportunity to inspect the links before accepting the
cable. It's a while since I winched and we used rope weak links then.

Andy




--
Robin Birch

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:35:45 UTC, "Bill Daniels"
bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:

: It would be easy to dip one end of the slotted links in, say, tan paint.
: Seeing a link assembly with two white dogbones but with one showing a tan
: end would indicate that the link had been assembled correctly.

I'm pretty sure that I have seen genuine Tost weak links in which the
slotted ones had a paint band round the middle. But that may have been
added by the club in question. It's a sensible thing to do.

Ian