Skip to main content

Cable integrity inspection tactics for flying wires in hang gliders

Submitted by Joe Faust on

Hang glider manufacturers supply flying cable sets; how might pilots inspect the condition of those cables?

Visual inspection and rough estimation of the use and abuse of the cables provide using pilots with their guess of the condition of the important wing's flying cables.  There is a search for real-time inspection of the cables. Electrical resistance history of the cables has been roughtly suggested; a reading would be normalized taking into account temperature of the cable.  When a reading shows a rapid historical change in the resistance signature, then the pilot would have a decision to make. Critique of this suggestion and or suggesting other means to inspect the flying cables is invited.

The incentive regards the safety of tens of thousands of hang glider pilots around the world. The most common dictum is simply to change the cables after so many hours or use or after a common term of calendar time.