HazelNuts39
I am away from those photos and drawings. From memory, there are two conditions that are puzzling from a structural standpoint. The vertical arm in the VS with its end missing, and the "rods" for lateral stiffening on the aft tail decking, common to an eyebrow rail mount between the right and left VS mounting saddles (three conditions). In both cases it shows that these "added" structural members will not fail (or even come into play) until after the failure of the structure "benefitting" from their installation. Note in particular the bead of sealant at the shoulder of the through bolt.at 36g. This bead is unaffected by any slip that may have caused the arm to lose its tip. This through bolt cannot be loose in its hole, it must be solidly inserted, perhaps driven in at assembly. I would enjoy inspecting a disassembled bolt/arm joint for fit, any looseness would aggravate its purpose; So the tip went missing without vertical movement, it has to be something other than a design condition.
At the VS/fuselage remnant a good picture of the lateral snubbing rods shows failure in the lateral plane (imo). Once again, the VS is not installed loosely, wear on the saddle brackets and eye bolts cannot be allowed. Since the VS cannot move relative to the tail decking, any "movement" that needs protection can only occur when or as the VS undergoes removal by catastrophic forces. I also have the suspicion that as the VS "rocks" back and forth in failure, the rods act as jacks, aggravating the strain that causes the loss of this Fin. In other words, to me, there seems no allowance for a day to day need for these assemblies, only in failure does their use seem to satisfy their design. Your thoughts?
bear