Pilot135pd
Well Known Member
I just read an article in a magazine that left me very confused regarding my RV-8. I?m not a mechanic or a builder so it might have a simple explanation but if not I found it to be a major safety issue.
This is what the author said:
?Wherever a bolt is subject to rotation, it is required to have a castellated nut and cotter key. A typical mistake I see on amateur-built aircraft is the use of a heat nut or fiber nut on the rudder control horn. The second picture shows the proper bolt/nut combination; however, the cotter key is missing.?
So I went and looked at every one of the nuts on my ailerons, rudder, and elevator and they don?t have cotter pins. Aren?t those bolts subject to rotation?
This is what the author said:
?Wherever a bolt is subject to rotation, it is required to have a castellated nut and cotter key. A typical mistake I see on amateur-built aircraft is the use of a heat nut or fiber nut on the rudder control horn. The second picture shows the proper bolt/nut combination; however, the cotter key is missing.?
So I went and looked at every one of the nuts on my ailerons, rudder, and elevator and they don?t have cotter pins. Aren?t those bolts subject to rotation?