A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Soaring
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Weak link - single or reserve?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old January 18th 08, 10:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Malcolm Austin
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

Andreas,
I agree that would seem to be a problem for that location.
But I
have not seen it arise for the main winch rope. We do use a 15 metre length
of stiffer and thicker rope after the main winch rope which also might help
counteract that.

The cost and wear properties on our grass strip, plus the almost complete
lack of winch failures is a real plus. Even nicer is the handling side for
the winch man. It's 100% safer and we get no cut fingers. A repair
(splice) can be carried out in a few minutes with a pen knife and some tape
to cover the 3 ends of the rope. The section closest to the winch suffers
the
most wear, but this is easily and quickly replaced and minimal cost.Also
the guide rolls on the winch after about 8 months of use show zero wear.

I drive the winch every few weeks and after the 18 months of so of usage I
would hate to go back to steel. And as said before the amount of weak link
failures is virtually nil now.

Cheers,
Malcolm...


"Andreas Maurer" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:16:22 GMT, "Malcolm Austin"
wrote:

At our club (Denbigh GC, UK) we changed the steel wire for a type of
polypropylene
rope. The shock absorbing properties of this have reduced the incidence
of
weak link
breaks to almost zero.


I know of a club that also used a polypropylene rope between aircraft
and weak link.
They stopped using that after this rope got entangled within the gear
of an ASK-21, leading to a severe ground loop immediately prior to
lift-off.

The stiffness of the steel wire prevents such an event.


Bye
Andreas



  #12  
Old January 19th 08, 12:23 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Z Goudie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

At 15:48 18 January 2008, Andreas Maurer wrote:

- weak links that impact tarmac after release are more
prone to fail


Install weak links within an equivalent length of narrow
steel channel (with a hole at one end and a slot at
the other) as protection from wear/impact damage.



  #13  
Old January 19th 08, 01:13 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Cats
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 164
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

On Jan 18, 5:04*pm, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:16:22 GMT, "Malcolm Austin"

wrote:
At our club (Denbigh GC, UK) *we changed the steel wire for a type of
polypropylene
rope. *The shock absorbing properties of this have reduced the incidence of
weak link
breaks to almost zero.


I know of a club that also used a polypropylene rope between aircraft
and weak link.
They stopped using that after this rope got entangled within the gear
of an ASK-21, leading to a severe ground loop immediately prior to
lift-off.

The stiffness of the steel wire prevents such an event.


That's partly why the strops our weak links are attached are inside
some kind of plastic tube. I have a feeling the BGA recommends this
but I can never find stuff on their website, so don't know if I'm
imagining that.

  #14  
Old January 19th 08, 01:30 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Andreas Maurer[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 91
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:13:36 -0800 (PST), Cats
wrote:

That's partly why the strops our weak links are attached are inside
some kind of plastic tube. I have a feeling the BGA recommends this
but I can never find stuff on their website, so don't know if I'm
imagining that.


If you need some written arguments: The German SBO explicitly demands
a stiffened rope between glider and weak link.

See here (if you speak German):
http://www.daec.de/se/downfiles/sbo.pdf


Bye
Andreas
  #15  
Old January 19th 08, 04:46 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
nimbusgb
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 82
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

On 19 Jan, 00:13, Cats wrote:


That's partly why the strops our weak links are attached are inside
some kind of plastic tube. I have a feeling the BGA recommends this
but I can never find stuff on their website, so don't know if I'm
imagining that.


http://www.gliding.co.uk/forms/clubm...t/winchops.pdf
and
http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/doc...chguidance.pdf

Finding stuff on the site is a pain, especially since the search
facility is useless!

Ian M
  #16  
Old January 19th 08, 10:14 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Cats
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 164
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

On Jan 19, 3:46*am, nimbusgb wrote:
On 19 Jan, 00:13, Cats wrote:



That's partly why the strops our weak links are attached are inside
some kind of plastic tube. *I have a feeling the BGA recommends this
but I can never find stuff on their website, so don't know if I'm
imagining that.


http://www.gliding.co.uk/forms/clubm...t/winchops.pdf
andhttp://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/documents/safewinchguidance.pdf

Finding stuff on the site is a pain, especially since the search
facility is useless!


Thanks. I knew it was in there somewhere!

  #17  
Old January 19th 08, 10:16 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Gavin Short
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

At 00:18 19 January 2008, Cats wrote:

The stiffness of the steel wire prevents such an event.


That's partly why the strops our weak links are attached
are inside
some kind of plastic tube. I have a feeling the BGA
recommends this
but I can never find stuff on their website, so don't
know if I'm
imagining that.



From the BGA website

http://www.gliding.co.uk/forms/lawsandrules.pdf
Page 52, RP (Recommended Practice) 7



Gavin
Std Cirrus, CNN now G-SCNN, #173


  #18  
Old January 19th 08, 11:31 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Ian
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 306
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

On 18 Jan, 23:23, Z Goudie
wrote:
At 15:48 18 January 2008, Andreas Maurer wrote:

- weak links that impact tarmac after release are more
prone to fail


Install weak links within an equivalent length of narrow
steel channel (with a hole at one end and a slot at
the other) as protection from wear/impact damage.


I thought that was part of the standard Tost kit.

Ian
  #19  
Old January 19th 08, 07:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tom Nau
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 23
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

On Jan 18, 8:40*am, "Jesper Thomsen" wrote:
"Tom Nau" wrote in message

...

Hi All,


Our commercial operation (more like a club) is starting to do winch
launches. *I just bought a Tost weak link for my glider from W&W. *Are
most people using a "single" weak link or a "single and a reserve"
weak link? * Thanks.


Tom Nau


In Denmark where winch launching is about 90% of all starts, we also used
backup weak links for a while, but they've almost all disappeared again.

Experience shows that the second weak link is not strong enough to stand up
to the forces that appear when the primary weak link breaks (for whatever
reason). The Net result is that you break two weak links instead of just
one, and you don't get any added security or resilience for the price of the
second weak link.

Plus you add the unnecessary complexity of having to check that the two weak
links are different and that either didn't break during the last launch,
plus you're dragging two weak links through stones, dust, mud, grass etc.
instead of just one.

/J


Thank you, everyone, for your input.

Tom Nau
San Antonio, Texas
  #20  
Old January 19th 08, 08:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Z Goudie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8
Default Weak link - single or reserve?

At 10:36 19 January 2008, Ian wrote:
I thought that was part of the standard Tost kit.

Use a SERIOUS piece of steel channel!



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
OLC - 2008 - DO NOT USE 2007 URL LINK, or current ssa.org link [email protected] Soaring 1 October 25th 07 05:37 PM
IFR w/pax under Single-Pilot/Single Aircraft 135 Bravo8500 Owning 20 March 9th 05 10:37 PM
Weak link for PW-5 Nyal Williams Soaring 4 June 1st 04 08:46 AM
Weak link for winch launch - 1-26E??? Mark Zivley Soaring 4 April 29th 04 11:38 PM
Blanik Weak Link for Winch Launch??? Gary Emerson Soaring 6 February 24th 04 09:08 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:08 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.