A critical 1997 memo written by an Airbus engineer could have prompted a review of safety measures on the A300-600 model, the same plane which crashed into Belle Harbor in November 2001. The news came as the National Transportation Safety Board puts the finishing touches its final report on the tragedy, which will be released on November 12th, the third anniversary of the crash that killed 265 people.
Airbus engineers wrote an internal memo warning that constant rudder movement could “produce loads above ultimate design loads” after American Airlines flight 903, an Airbus A300-600 model, experienced excessive turbulence while waiting to land in Miami in 1997. The memo was never shared with the Federal Aviation Administration, which was thus in the dark about the potenial rudder problem.
Flight 587 took off from Kennedy Airport at 9:15 a.m. and was banking over the Rockaways when the pilot moved the rudder left and right to adjust to turbulence from a flight ahead. The stress on the tail peaked 93 seconds into the flight and it ripped off, sending the plane crashing to the ground.
The Allied Pilots Association, a union which represents American Airlines pilots, released the memo to the press this week. The official NTSB report is expected to cite the rudder movement as the cause of the crash.
The NTSB recommended in May that Airbus change the design of the rudder. Pilots were warned about the problem in February 2002, and the board members investigating the flight 587 crash will announce safety recommendations when the report is released.
The NTSB has posted two investigation updates this year, the first of which indicate that flight 903 and the rudder problem is a target of the flight 587 investigation.
The agency tested Airbus A300-600 aircraft, alternating the rudder to see if it would break under stress. One fastening lug “structurally failed beyond its design limit” in the test run. But the NTSB’s investigation of the flight 903 incident determined that the pilot was at fault and did not identify an equipment problem.
The release of the memo has created a rift between the union and American Airlines, which claims they were not properly informed of the deadly consequences of improper rudder use; and Airbus, whose spokespeople have said they tried to warn pilots about using the rudder too much.
Two hundred sixty passengers and crew members were killed when flight 587 crashes on its way to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, making it the second-worst airline crash in American history. Many of the families were from the largely Dominican Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan. Five people on the ground were also killed.
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Airbus Warned AA about rudder issues 587
