L'Hotelier Fitting Safety Pins

The pins (or the other T/N and AD listed devices) can be put in place if the coupling is fully connected... or completely unconnected. On my 15 I can see the four L'Hotelliers quite well but I still first check that they're assembled properly by using the pull test and then carefully visually checking the connections. I then follow those up with a positive control check.

I have seen people get the couplings sort of "half-way connected": the wedge gets pushed down, the socket is put part way down the ball and then the wedge is released. In this situation the pins won't go in (or the Wedekinds won't slide home) so the few times I've seen it done it was always caught quickly.

One way I've theorized that the L'Hotelliers may have disconnected when not equipped with the safety devices would be if the spring loaded wedge got contaminated with enough dirt that the spring wasn't able to push it back up to lock the coupling when it was released after putting it over the ball.

At 00:11 13 October 2016, Dan Marotta wrote:
Those bobby pins are used extensively on my Stemme and I lost two
that
fell out of their retaining strings during taxiing operations leaving me
with only one spare. A quick search found 1.2 mm hitch pins at
WalMart
(of all places). I got a bag of 50 pins for under $8. Here's a link

for anyone needing the same. I've tried them and they fit.

--
Dan, 5J


I keep my pins in the strings with a small fly tying style thread wiping
and a drop of nail varnish.

My pins were tied tightly with waxed twine but, during taxi, the pins
just slipped out of the loops. I have taken to inserting the pins into
the holes of the fittings where they're kept safe during taxi.

Dan

On 10/16/2016 2:51 PM, Philip Dwyer wrote:
At 00:11 13 October 2016, Dan Marotta wrote:
Those bobby pins are used extensively on my Stemme and I lost two
that
fell out of their retaining strings during taxiing operations leaving me
with only one spare. A quick search found 1.2 mm hitch pins at
WalMart
(of all places). I got a bag of 50 pins for under $8. Here's a link

for anyone needing the same. I've tried them and they fit.

--
Dan, 5J

I keep my pins in the strings with a small fly tying style thread wiping
and a drop of nail varnish.


--
Dan, 5J