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[Ted G Campbell]

Are there any rivets left on the "Dado"s"?
Ted Campbell

[Greg Daspit]

I think they may be a completely different type of rivet/ fastener but some of the fasteners in the wings of the Electra at the Gillam crash look rusted, like they were made of steel. Perhaps these were used for structural reasons at the wing attachments?

Corrosion in saltwater may explain the curved "fender" shape in the debris field. Its shape looks like a leading edge of the wing to me. Rivet corrosion could explain how it could keep the shape without any visible structure.

[James G. Stoveken]

In an environment where there is a lot of vibration, rivets would be preferable to screws, I think.

That's true Marty, on a permanent installation.  But we don't know the why or how of the patch so we can't know if it was meant to be permanent.  Also, there are screws all over the place on airplanes, fastening fairings and various covers and the like.  They don't seem to come loose too often but when they do a good pre-flight inspection should find them.

[Scott C. Mitchell]

If all hope was sinking along with the aircraft, and AE had a shiny piece of aluminum in her hands like the patch, one would think she would be tempted to scratch a message on it to tell the tale.

Scott Mitchell
#3292

[Ron Lyons]

That's a very good point Scott...I wish she would have!

[Ric Gillespie]

New video on the TIGHAR YouTube channel, soon to be on the TIGHAR website.
http://youtu.be/bFKCkN6C5JQ?list=UUBmR8Pp9vdb_1YvOIrLAWog

[Monty Fowler]

Oh, how much younger we all were then ...

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

[Ric Gillespie]

Diego is going to be all over me because I said that I wasn't involved in taping off the dimensions of the patch and the video shows that I clearly was.  Ah, the frailty of human memory.

[Paul March]

New video on the TIGHAR YouTube channel, soon to be on the TIGHAR website.

Very well done. Thank you for posting such an insightful look into your efforts. (and the ringtone was entertaining!)

[Ric Gillespie]

(and the ringtone was entertaining!)

Aaargh!  That was Pat (my wife) calling. We're both of Scottish decent. Her ringtone is one of our favorite pipe tunes The Black Bear.

[Bessel P Sybesma]

Ric, great video, love the obvious emotion you felt as things started to line up... must have been a heck of a day!

[Greg Daspit]

Regarding the tape on the plane.
Is Mr. Glickman using it to determine and match scales of different photos at known points close to where the patch may be or is it meant to define some limits of the patch?
If the tape is defining limits of the patch then which edges of the tape define it?

[Ric Gillespie]

Is Mr. Glickman using it to determine and match scales of different photos at known points close to where the patch may be or is it meant to define some limits of the patch?

"Close to" is the best we can do.  There isn't enough resolution in the photos to see precisely where the edges of the patch were.  In the selfie with Nilla Putnam we can see clearly where the window frame was attached and there must have been structure added for the frame to be riveted to.  Logically the patch was riveted to those same structures but trying to pin down exactly where the patch edges were riveted is a fool's errand.

[Ingo Prangenberg]

Has the following been addressed before: What are the rectangular "cutouts" on the left edges of the artifact? I feel like those cutouts did not exist when it was found? Were pieces cut away for testing?

[Nathan Leaf]

Has the following been addressed before: What are the rectangular "cutouts" on the left edges of the artifact? I feel like those cutouts did not exist when it was found? Were pieces cut away for testing?

I believe two rectangular pieces were cut out for metallurgical testing.  Must have been excruciating for Ric to consent to that ... but a necessary "evil" in the forensic archaeology process.