High-strength bolt reuse in aviation accidents

Tom mentions investigating multiple aviation accidents where reused bolts lost fatigue strength due to lost clamp-up.

And it's not just propellers — it's aircraft, it's bridges and buildings when you're using high-strength bolts. The rule, and for automobiles, racing cars: high-strength bolts are one-time use. Most people don't know that, but I've been to a number of aviation accidents where people reused the bolts. They don't have the same fatigue strength because they don't have the same clamp-up. So the long-term properties are not the same when you reuse high-strength bolts. Not everybody understands that.