If this is swivel ball and socket "rod end" connection, standard 
practice is to have a large diameter washer under the bolt head or nut 
to contain the ball and socket if there is wear or otherwise it tries to 
become disconnected.

Apptech wrote:
> Here's a story from the aeronautical world.
> As a metaphor for avoiding disaster by outthinking Murphy it 
> may be useful, and as a story its interesting.
>
>
>
>         Russell
>
> __________________________
>
> Randall,
>          since you will be trucking your Rocket Racer from 
> place to place,
> a safety tip from the Sailplane world.
>
> It is rather easy to have an error where the controls move 
> correctly with
> the stick but are still not properly attached.
> Sailplanes get assembled and disassembled a lot. Some of 
> them spend the
> majority of their lives disassembled in a  trailer.
> After re-assembly the sailplane guys do a two person test on 
> every
> disconnected surface.
>
> Person one sits in the cockpit and moves each surface 
> through two full
> range of motion checks.
>
> Person two applies pressure by hand to each surface in  turn 
> testing for
> disconnected movement
> in both directions throughout the whole range of motion.
>
> This is to catch something like a ball end in a socket 
> without the bolt
> through.
> It moves the surface just fine, but as soon as tension is 
> placed on the
> linkage it pops loose.
>
> Obviously you don't want a gorilla doing the "apply force to 
> the surface"
> test, but you don't want  to miss anything either.
>
> I've personally seen this test fail. I was third or fourth 
> in line waiting
> for a tow with the club glider at warner springs.
>
> The first sailplane in line was a modern sailplane, supposed 
> to
> have  "automatic" connections.
> The sailplane had been assembled  by the owner/pilot using 
> the assembly
> dollies that are supposed to allow single person assembly.
> The guy marshalling tows asked him if he had done a control 
> check after
> assembly as he was hooking up the tow rope.
> The pilot replied yes, the tow guy said "a positive check?" 
> (as opposed to
> a visual view check)
> The pilot said no,  the tow guy said no tow, the pilot was 
> all pissed off
> that he was going to loose his place in line,
> and started getting mad.  another pilot in line ran up and 
> said I'll help
> you do a quick one....
>
> The right aileron moved up against force, but when   the 
> check guy applied
> pressure in the opposite direction on the second
> control cycle the aileron popped free. The pilot turned 
> ashen white and
> became very sheepish.
> The tow guy had just saved his life.
>
>
> Paul
>
>
>
> At 06:31 PM 8/14/2008 -0700, you wrote:
>   
>> At 09:12 PM 7/17/2008, Paul Breed wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Many sailplane pilots have been lost by getting
>>> the controls wrong after reattaching the wings.
>>>       
>> Oh yes.  A VLJ prototype crashed on takeoff a year or two 
>> ago because they
>> had to disconnect the roll linkage to modify the main gear, 
>> and the
>> reconnected it backwards.
>>
>> That's a design driver.  The Chief Engineer got real grumpy 
>> about that,
>> "It shouldn't be POSSIBLE to connect control linkages 
>> backwards!"  And
>> whether it is possible or not, the pilot is responsible for 
>> ensuring,
>> during the pre-flight, that the stick and rudder not only 
>> move the
>> appropriate control surfaces, but move them in the correct 
>> direction.  I
>> watch this check specifically every time I safety officiate 
>> a flight.
>>
>>     
>>> Does a normal velocity have easily removable wings?
>>>       
>> Well, removable, but it's not an everyday procedure.  The 
>> first flight
>> after putting the wings back on is always a high stress 
>> flight.
>>
>> -R
>>
>>
>> Randall Clague
>> Government Liaison
>> XCOR Aerospace
>> rclague@xcor.com
>> 661-824-4714
>>
>>
>>
>> __________ NOD32 3357 (20080814) Information __________
>>
>> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
>> http://www.eset.com
>>
>>     
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> aRocket@exrocketry.net
> http://exrocketry.net/mailman/listinfo/arocket 
>
>   
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