I gather by the tone of the last few messages that there is some conclusion to the investigation of which I am not aware. If as it seems is implied by Captain M 's message that there was a failure of the torque plate, then I am relieved that my suggestion did not in fact occur. I have said all along that all I wanted was to have the blades examined to prove/disprove the theory in this case. As I also said, the only reason I raised the issue was that I have seen these failures in blades and other structure and they presented similar characteristics. Because this is not a widely known failure mode, I believed I had a professional duty to raise the matter so that it could be considered during the investigations. Some of the responses evoked were less than professional, but I would like to commend Svenstrom for his detailed and well stated explanation of the event, even if there was a bit of rancour added in places.
As for RVDT's last remark, that is a poor representation of a very old joke: "You can always tell a **** but you can't tell him much." Substitute for **** any noun describing the rank, mustering, trade, sport, race, religion, nationality etc.
I suggest you contact some Kiwi's. They have much better Aussie jokes.
"What is the most significant geographic fault in Australia?...It is above sea level."
etc. etc.
Regards
blakmax