Originally Posted by
Kawijet
And its unlikely the accident investigators removed them as some have previously suggested, as the other bar is still complete.
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but even then if the pin did fall out, what are the chances of finding both the pin AND nappy pin in the wreckage? Either that or that is not the pin, nappy pin or bracket.....
Something doesn't add up here.
As I see it the only possible explanation is that the investigators removed them. As you're stating, if they weren't removed they would have been deformed/broken in som way unless they were never installed. I don't think that the bracket is connected on one bar "proves" that the other one wasn't complete, they clearly must have removed either the lower or the upper end (or both) on the suspension bar that is unconnected in both ends. As I see it it's clear that they have removed the pins on some of the four suspension ends in question, so I don't understand why they wouldn't have removed them on all the 3 unconnected ends. I think it's more likely that there's an issue with the one that's still connected, that it is bent or distorted in a way that makes removal impossible without force.
As for the front suspension bar we really have no other information than that the top mounting broke. I think it's very unlikely that it has broken more than one place, and the front suspension bar has probably stayed attached to the airframe. I'm guessing they only showed the part of the front suspension bar that "is of any interest" - where it has given way.
Either way, it's important to remember that in what state these were found is only a mystery to us. The AIBN knows if they were found mounted or not, which makes me believe that it can't be a "simple explanation" like missing nappy pins. If that were the case, AIBN wouldn't be in any doubt if the accident was due to the some kind of suspension bar failure or rotational lock up. For this to be an "open case" things must seemingly have been correcly put together and the question is if some kind of fatigue/crack or otherwise non-obvious problem with the suspension failed and caused the damage to the gears as the break up was happening, or if something locked up and the momentum in the rotor broke the suspension.
Given that the rotor seemed to still rotate at a high speed in the video and that the damage to the blades are relatively modest, I'd say that the most likely scenario is that something locked up. If the suspension failed causing the rotor to hit the tail or some similar scenario, I'd think that the blades would either be "shaved off" and/or the rotor would have lost a lot of momentum. I don't know enough about the strength in the blades, their attachement or the material in the tail to speculate how that would play out, but a considerable amont of "braking" would have had to happen to break the planet gear. I think this force would have been visible on the rotor and blades.