Martin Gregorie wrote:
- Wiedekind sleeves on the Hoteliers. Important on an ASW-19,
Pegase-101, ASW-20 because the hole in the fuselage is small. With the
sleeves the Hoteliers connect first time every time and can't detach.

In my opinion, stay away from Wiedekind sleeves, unless they are
required by the certification. I know two people who were very
seriously injured, and one who was killed, because a Hotelier connection
with a Wiedekind sleeve was thought to be properly connected, when it
was not. In each of these cases, a control check was apparently
performed, but it appears insufficient force was applied to cause it to
disconnect. The ball can get hung up inside the sleeve without being
fully inside the socket, the sleeve will partially, but not completely,
close under those circumstances. If you can't see it (or don't know
what to look for), you may miss it.

I hate fiddling with safety pins, but you can't get the pin in if the
ball isn't completely inside the socket. I've had no problem seeing
enough to get the pins in on ASW-19s, 20s, and Pegases, despite the
small openings...

Marc