Originally Posted by
bumpthump
GRAYHORIZONSHELI Do you actually mean “they found a missing nut” or “they found that a nut is missing”?
I would assume (and surely at this stage of the game, it’s still an assumption) it would be the latter.
I stress again, I am not a pilot, but I am a mech engineer (albeit from a different discipline). As a slight aside, I have used split pins and wire locks on many a track motorcycle in my time, so as well as those two safety measures, there is (as you stated) the correct torque setting for the nut. On top of that, I don’t know if the aviation world use it or not, but on track bikes, it was also common practice to apply a further safeguard in the form of an appropriate thread locking fluid (yes, usually from the Loctite company).
As stated in my post earlier in this thread, I am not a pilot. I am however, a groundsman, and have worked in stadium environments on and off for many years. What I can tell you is that if standard post match practices were carried out (they may well not have been, given the circumstances), there is a very good chance that any missing components would have been found, if they were on the pitch itself.
Immediately following matches at this level, pitches are effectively 'hoovered' with mowers to remove debris - this debris includes organic debris i'e., tufts of grass etc, and also objects thrown onto the pitch - coins is the common issue in this respect. If a nut, or other component was on the pitch, it would have been found during the post match 'clean up, or failing that, during the next cut as the mower blades would 'find' it.
I suspect however that all pitch maintenance activities would have been suspended immediately given the nature and location of the incident. That said, if there were any components on the pitch, they would most definitely have been found by now.