Ian Johnston wrote:

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005 15:59:24 UTC, M B
wrote:

Is there any commonly known way to test a weak
link non-destructively (other than launching a glider)?

The Tost system uses two in parallel, one slightly longer than the
other. Whoever hooks up the glider should always check that both links
are intact and that only one is taking the load.

Ian

--
We've gone to using a single TOST weak link. Over the years, the metal
sleeve gets dented, making inspection suspect without a time consuming
disassembly. A few times the links part without any warning that perhaps
the first may have failed previously. We have also had both fail at the
same time when going through a sharp wind gradient. We replaced both and
broke both on the very next launch through this sharp gradient. At the
price of the weak links, consuming one at a time, rather than two, just
makes more sense.

NDT would work if you jigged up an accurate test bed. I would be more
concerned with rope weak links used in aerotowing than TOST weak links if I
wanted to test something. From many years of observation I'm pretty
confident that the TOST links perform as expected.

Frank