NTSB Maintains New Rudder Worry Not Related To 2001 Flight

ANN REALTIME UPDATE: 04.17.06 1800EST: In response to the urging by members of the Allied Pilots Association to reopen its investigation into the November 12, 2001 downing of American Airlines Flight 587, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday its recent warnings of a specific kind of problem with Airbus A300 and A310 aircraft does not affect the board's determination that the 2001 accident was caused by the pilot moving the rudder too aggressively.

"The scenarios are different. What we noted in our recommendation letter in March did not occur on Flight 587," said NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz to the Associated Press.

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, who represents the Queens district where Flight 587 fell from the sky, had joined with several American Airlines pilots who asked the NTSB to reconsider its earlier investigation, in light of the board's recent findings that hydraulic leaks inside the rudder assemblies of A300-series airplanes could lead to "disbonding" of the composite assembly and, ultimately, structural failure.

Weiner said Monday the new findings about the A300's composite rudder may offer new clues into what led to Flight 587's demise.

The NTSB pointed out that with Flight 587, the entire tail assembly failed -- whereas the recent problems concern only the moveable rudder portion of the tail.

Original Report

In light of the last month's call by the NTSB to investigate rudder delamination in Airbus A300 and A310 aircraft, a group of American Airlines pilots are calling on the agency to reopen its investigation into what brought down American Flight 587 almost five years ago -- and, specifically, if a similar "disbonding" issue on the A300's tail could have contributed to the fatal crash over Rockaway, NY.

"We're just trying to renew the interest and concerns about these particular model aircraft," said Capt. Bob Tamburini, a member of the Allied Pilots Association, to the New York Post. "We are requesting that the National Transportation Safety Board reopen its investigation based on the information that came out as of late."

That information is based on two incidents involving A300-series aircraft in the past year, one of which occurred while the plane was inflight. In March of 2005, an Air Transat A310-300 lost most of its rudder after takeoff from Varadero, Cuba. The flight crew was able to coax the stricken airliner back to the airport for a safe landing.

Last November, the rudder of a Federal Express A300 was damaged in an unrelated maintenance incident. When the rudder was shipped to Airbus for inspection, however, crews found that a substantial area of the rudder's inner structure had "disbonded" -- which could have led to a complete failure of the structure.

Most significantly, investigators also found traces of hydraulic fluid in the FedEx rudder assembly. Hydraulic fluid contamination between the honeycomb skin and the fiberglass composite skin -- caused by a leak in the tail's hydraulic lines -- can lead to progressive disbonding, which compromises the strength of the rudder.

In light of the discovery, the NTSB called for immediate inspections of the tails of the roughly 400 A300 series planes flying throughout the world, to determine if similar leaks were present that could compromise the strength of the rudder structure.

That report, issued last month, has led pilots to question the NTSB's determination that the pilot of Flight 587 overcompensated for wake turbulence encountered shortly after takeoff, pushing the rudder past its limits until it snapped -- pilot error, in other words.

But that's not the whole story, the pilots say.

"I always believed the crash of Flight 587 had to do with a combination of uncommanded rudder movements and structural integrity defects in the composite material, and that the NTSB drew its conclusion on incomplete evidence," said Jason Goldberg, a former A300 pilot.

NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said the agency received the pilots union letter over the weekend. "...I don't know how they're going to respond to it," he said, adding the NTSB will issue no public comment on the matter until it is reviewed.

American Airlines declined to comment on the matter to the Post -- but Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell said the company considers the matter resolved.

"Flight 587 was the most investigated accident in the history of aviation and the NTSB did a very, very thorough job," McConnell said.

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.aa.com, www.alliedpilots.org