Hotellier connections

Are there types of L'Hotellier connectors that can't
use the sleeves?

A friend has an LS-4 with the sleeves (I guess they
are Wedekind) over his L'Hotellier's while my LS-1d
relies on safety pins in the 'wedges'.

It doesn't APPEAR that the sleeves can be used on the
type of L'Hotellier's in my glider, but I could be
wrong (a frequent occurance).

The safety pins are easy to attach, especially with
the adequately sized access hole in the turtle deck.
Could the safety pins come out? Possibly, but I don't
see how. Could the connections come loose even with
the safety pins properly in place? Possibly, but I
don't know how.

Is there any reason to retrofit the L'Hotellier's with
sleeves, if possible, rather than continuing to use
the safety pins?

Typically, I have the safety pins tied to the control
rods with dental floss. Sometimes, when removing a
wing, the safety pin snags on the fuselage and breaks
the dental floss. The pin drops into the fuselage
where I might or might not find it right away. Then,
I just go get a spare pin. To date, I have recovered
all 'lost' pins in the fuselage. Just a typical landing
or two of mine :-) shakes the pins out of their hiding
places so I can easily grab it through the turtle deck's
access hole.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
DG(LS)-1d
'W8'


At 14:12 20 September 2004, Chris Reed wrote:
I retrofitted Wedekind sleeves to an Astir CS (or more
accurately, got this
done as part of the annual Certificate of Airworthiness.
As I recall, the
cost was about USD15 per sleeve, with a couple of hours
labour (of an
expert) for fitting all four. There are about three
different types for
different kinds of hotelier, so quoting glider type,
model, year etc. is
essential.

Worth every penny, because (a) connecting took seconds
per Hotelier, and (b)
I knew that the security of the connection couldn't
work loose in flight,
unlike the R clips we used previously which *might*
(though never did) fall
out of the hole in the wedge. R clips are OK for (a),
once you get used to
fitting them by feel, but often your hands are greasy,
or you're just
clumsy, or life is against you. Plus, what happens
if you drop an R clip
(even if tied to wires they can slide out) - only 2%
of the pilots I know
would have a spare!

I own an Open Cirrus which, like the Pegase, has Hoteliers
behind the spar -
this has Wedekinds for those Hoteliers which is essential,
as they can only
be connected by feel. Our club Pegase has Wedekinds.

I think this is a no-brainer.

'Mike' wrote in message
. com...
I was watching my friend struggle with (AD required)safty
wires for
Hotellier connectors on his recently purchased Pegasus.
He said the
AD notes alternatives to the safty wires like the
Wedekind sleeves.
Anyone know if these are retrofittable and where they
can be obtained.
I'm sure this has been hashed out on RAS before but
I'm new to the
group so apologize for the clutter. TIA:

Mike