Choice of Carabiners

We had an interesting incident while I was in Canada, when a Tandem Pilot “unclipped” from one Carabiner as he was launching. This caused him to drop below the passenger on the one side, and being only connected to the canopy on that side by the brake-lines; caused the glider (UP Cab) to stall on the one side and negative-spin into the trees. Fortunately the pilot and pasenger were completely unharmed and the glider received minor tears.

The lessons we can learn from this are to:-

1). Ensure your Carabiners are of the lock AND screwgate type.
2). Do the 5-point check before launch.
3). Do a dummy-run by holding up the Spreader-bars to show the position to the passanger, and at the same same time ensure you are clipped in.

Tristam Burrell
tristam@blusky.co.za