I'd sure hate to have to scrap a whole assembly because of a single hole but we are after all talking about a vital, critical part, crucial to your health and well-being.
Because the hole appears to be more than sufficiently spaced and is equidistant to the two nearest holes, my instincts tell me that the errant hole is not much of an issue.
However, like most amateurs who post their thoughts on this forum I must strongly emphasize that mine is but an untrained personal
opinion. I know nothing about the potential long term ramifications of vibration and resonances acting upon it. Also, in the combat aircraft production environment I came from, shop experience taught me that any unused hole including tooling holes are to be routinely plugged except for of course, drain holes. Obviously, we are not bound to the same precise assembly specifications as combat aircraft and because of this hole's unique location, cannot readily be plugged either.
Learning never stops. The way I see it, you have three possible choices here. Option 1: Ignore condition and move on. Option 2: Scrap and replace assembly. Option 3: I am curious if it is possible (given its half on-half off location adjacent to a dissimilar alloy) if it is advisable or even advantageous to have the hole plugged by someone skilled in aluminum welding or if it is simply better to just leave well enough alone. Thoughts from any welders and/or structural engineers out there?
