By Tony Bingelis, EAA Sport Aviation

For some reason I like to call them nut plates. Be that as it may, I still don’t like those pesky little things but, boy, are they important!
As the name implies, anchor nuts are captive nuts you can attach permanently to the blind side (backside usually) of an assembly. Often this is a removable accessory, component part, or cover, of some sort.

These anchor nuts, or nut plates, as they are often called, are usually installed where access to a regular hex nut with a wrench would be difficult, if not impossible.