FAA Investigates Strange Metal Object That Hit Va. Woman’s House

It's likely the part came from a plane since her house is in the flight path for Dulles International Airport.

Any mechanics out there know what this is or what it could have been bolted to?

A mysterious object fell through a northern Virginia woman's home Friday morning and members of the Federal Aviation Administration were visiting her home on Saturday.

The FAA is trying to figure out if a piece of metal that crashed through an awning and landed in a dining room came from a plane.

"We have no idea if it's an aircraft part or where it came from and we have to investigate it," FAA investigator supervisor Barry Barbini said.

link

Judging by the corrosion that bolt must have came off the Wright Brothers plane...that's old.

It looks like the pin to a shackle. Not sure there would be one on a plane, but I do not know how planes are manufactured.

I would not say it was 'strange' as its just a bolt!...But whatever it came off does indeed need some new ones!...Seeing as they are as they say in engineering......Shagged!!!

MrLimpet
It's likely the part came from a plane since her house is in the flight path for Dulles International Airport.

Any mechanics out there know what this is or what it could have been bolted to?

A mysterious object fell through a northern Virginia woman's home Friday morning and members of the Federal Aviation Administration were visiting her home on Saturday.

The FAA is trying to figure out if a piece of metal that crashed through an awning and landed in a dining room came from a plane.

"We have no idea if it's an aircraft part or where it came from and we have to investigate it," FAA investigator supervisor Barry Barbini said.

link

Looks to me like a very old flanged bolt with a badly corroded head?

reply to post by TheDoctor46

Exactly.
Most likely Tyre Bolts

reply to post by MrLimpet


OK. Now what aircraft manufacturer is putting bolts set in concrete into their aircraft?
I plan to take a trip soon and would like to know the answer to that question.

The bolt has had a hard life, it didn't get that way by simply dropping out of the sky and hitting a house.
It appears to be a fine-thread type which is common for better quality machine tools.
I surmise that it was a shallowly mounted fastener bolt that secured the base of a machine in an earthly shop.

It is also small enough to have been flung with a home-made sling shot weapon or even hand thrown.

I think this bold might not be corroded as it seems in the picture, but maybe dropped from high altitude (space debris) and just melted.

reply to post by aLLeKs


I'd imagine what we're seeing is impact damage, not all corrosion.

Falling from a great height into concrete or similar hard surfaces will cause a lot of distortion and warping.

Heavy end is the hex end, which would have taken the brunt of the impact damage, hence the rest of the bolt looks more or less intact and recognisable as a bolt.

Aliensun
reply to post by MrLimpet

 

OK. Now what aircraft manufacturer is putting bolts set in concrete into their aircraft?
I plan to take a trip soon and would like to know the answer to that question.

It is also small enough to have been flung with a home-made sling shot weapon or even hand thrown.

edit on 5-2-2014 by Aliensun because: fixed

It does look a bit like concrete on the end of it?

As for it being thrown, i dont think it could create enough force to go through a ceiling.

They said it was 4 in long, weighed a couple of lbs. and smelled like gasoline.

I am so hoping that this is part of a satellite. As someone stated...that head looks burned badly.

Anther possibility would be that a mechanic left the damaged/replaced bolt laying about in the landing gear space, and it simply fell off the plane.

I don't know a lot about space, but I know that every ounce matters, and special metals are de rigeur. I think it would be good to know what metal this is. Is it magnetic? Do not certain metals weld themselves together, when exposed to space conditions?

# 136

Bolt from a industrial wood chipper.
It has no hole for a safety wire that most aircraft bolts have

These are the most common unidentified parts that hit homes.
www.1260wrc.com...

That's a pretty big heavy bolt, definitely not the average.....interesting.....my guess would be airplane.

reply to post by MrLimpet


This sort of reminds me of the 1985 DC9 plane crash in Milwaukee, If I remember correctly they found a bolt on the runway that belong to one of the engines.

Could this be the same thing, it looks like this has threads on it.

It could be from the landing gear system (small for the wheel though), or one of three places on the wing. No telling exactly where or what type of plan though.