Chad Irby wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

I was also questioning his assertion that a critical component of the
ECM pod a$$embly was attached to the airplane by the bolt *threads*
alone. I don't think so!

Really?

How else would you characterize four bolts, pointed straight down?

Aside from one cable to the missile well adapter, that's all that holds
the pod missile well adapter to the plane.

The way we mounted it was to put the adapter on the shoulders of one guy
("man under," we called it), and he'd hold it a few inches below the
plane until someone hooked up the cable. Then he'd push it straight up
into the missile well, and the other techs would insert the four bolts.
After we got them medium-tight, the guy holding the MWA would move out
of the way and we'd torque the bolts.

Which were, again, pointed straight up into the bottom of the plane.

My point is simply that as any competent mechanic knows, it is a bad
practice to put shear loads in the threaded area of a bolt. Were these
all-thread bolts and what type of loads were they designed for? It's
still difficult to believe that a pilot could put enough G on the
airplane to cause the ECM pod to depart the airframe.

-Mike Marron