Design Insight: Making the right connection

They weigh less than 100 grams – the two karabiners that connect us, via our harness, to the glider. But each one of them is essential: failure of a karabiner in the air inevitably results in a reserve ride. Isn’t it strange that it’s the only part of our equipment that doesn’t have to meet a standard? They deserve a bit more TLC than we usually give them.

Types of connectors

For starters, not all connectors are karabiners (or carabiners, biners or crabs). A karabiner is a specialised shackle with a spring-loaded gate. Over the years other types of connectors have been developed to attach the harness to the glider, such as pin-lock connectors, quick-outs and softlinks. Even maillons rapides (French for quick links) are sometimes used, although we mainly find them between the risers and lines or between the reserve and bridle.

Many current harnesses are equipped with metal karabiners with an autolock gate. That means after you have opened the gate and let go, it closes and locks automatically. It’s the quickest karabiner to use and very safe because you can’t forget to close it. A karabiner with the gate left open is a lot weaker and can fail.

On a few hike-and-fly harnesses we now find lightweight karabiners that close automatically (with a spring-loaded gate) but do not lock automatically – you have to screw or turn a lock in place. While these karabiners are safe when locked, it is one more thing to remember on launch. More importantly, pilots have noticed that the lock on some of these can open during groundhandling. When unlocked the risk is that the gate of...