The sling to load angle is the angle formed from the ______ line and the sling leg or body.

• A. Horizontal
• B. Vertical
• C. Diagonal
• D. Baseline

Answer: (A)

The sling angle is defined as the angle formed by the sling leg with the horizontal reference line. This baseline is used because the vertical component of each sling leg’s tension supports the load, and that component equals T sin(phi), where phi is the angle with the horizontal. As the leg moves closer to horizontal (phi smaller), the required tension rises sharply, while a leg closer to vertical (phi near 90°) requires less tension, approaching half the load per leg for a two-leg sling. This definition also makes the common relation clear, such as the two-leg case where T = W / (2 sin(phi)). So the horizontal line is the standard reference for the sling-to-load angle.