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#402995
Yesterday was my first flight of the season. Hadn’t flown since December. I was setting up my glider & one of the last steps in my routine is to attach the nose wire. I found the nose wire to be too short. I tried disconnecting the the top tail wire & the nose wire went on fine but now I was unable to attach the top tail wire. I sat there scratching my head & trying to figure it out. I checked the VG system nothing was bound up. Finally I took a step back & noticed my nose cone looked funny. I took a closer look & saw the top nose wire had lassoed the fucken nose cone! I am perplexed as I have never seen or heard of this before. My question is do I have to replace that top wire now?
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#402997
You needn't change it if you're an optimistic gambler.

All seriousness aside, if it isn't kinked it's Ok.

You'll likely find in these matters that the peace of mind you get from replacing "iffy" stuff is well worth the time and $ spent.

But if it ain't kinked it's fine.
#403005
:lol:

Dave in order to give you possibly life saving advise, we would/should all have to be there to hold that cable in our hands.

I'm going to assume that you already knew the answer to your question before you asked the gallery... :wink:

8)
#403048
DAVE 858 wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:02 pmGood question, I don’t rightly know.
In general, and very oversimplified...

Wires below the sail are your flying wires. They are under tension in flight. The wires above the sail are your ground wires. They are in tension when your glider is on the ground, and relaxed in flight with one important exception.

Dive recovery.

Your luff lines maintain the reflex in your sail to avoid unrecoverable luffing dives into the ground. The king post provides the support to the luff lines. The wires from the kingpost to the nose, keel and leading edges support the stability of the kingpost.
#403057
I fly a U2. The only top wires are nose to tail & crossbars to king post. I now understand the function of having the nose to tail wire to stabilize the king post & therefore not particularly necessary to replace as they are not specifically load bearing parts.
#403065
DAVE 858 wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:25 pm I don’t whack!
That's an excellent example of a positive affirmation. Repeat it often, but don't do it while on short final.

You won't whack because your sub-conscious mind is calibrated by the affirmation to always flare the right amount at the right time, every time. Proof that the ego can be a friend at times.
#403066
NMERider wrote: Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:05 pm If the glider whacks that wire gets loaded up. Without it, your keel may bend or break.
That wire also gets loaded up when you have the glider at a negative angle of attack on the ground. I.E. high wind self launch using leverage with no wheels to hold the nose down.

The reason I know this is that wire snapped on my mentor John L at the south side POTM on a king posted Laminar. He actually taught me the technique of inching the glider to the Edge in high winds. Works great other than that one time....

The glider completely crumpled around him and was a complete loss. Just an FYI. Only an issue if you self launch in high winds. :ahh:

(Btw not advocating this technique being better or safer than using a wire man. )