Sometimes what was or was not done at the factory can predestine the failure of a component. Several years ago I was making a tour of Geneva Aviation in Everett, Washington. They had just completed the installation of a closed circuit TV system in an A-Star and were getting ready to place it in a container and ship it to Hawaii. I started to look at the various exposed systems and noticed that the pitch links on the tail rotor had castelated nuts and drilled bolts but there were no cotter pins installed. This aircraft had undergone countless inspections and was flown from Texas in that condition. Had the bolts and nuts come loose during a tourist flight there is no telling what could have happened and how many people could have been effected.
