Nov 2001: Amer Airlines 587 crash question

Has this been fully determined to have been a mechanical failure? I recall that there were questions at the time but never heard much about it---being in the midst of a family tragedy at the time I didn't follow it through the next few months.

The mention was made of the crash in Queens, NY in another thread and it reminded me that I never heard much about it after the initial event.

cause was a defect in the carbon-fiber vertical-tail.

of structural problems with the tail.

"They hit some kind of turbulence on take-off which caused the tail to break off."

So sayeth the NTSB. They are always there to clean up when something like this goes down. I think they were the ones parroting the "ice buildup" theory on the Wellstone crash.

Tail wash, my ass.

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2004/AAR0404.htm

Aircraft Accident Report
In-Flight Separation of Vertical Stabilizer
American Airlines Flight 587
Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053
Belle Harbor, New York
November 12, 2001
NTSB Number AAR-04/04
NTIS Number PB2004-910404
PDF Document(1.7 MB)
Resumen en español




Executive Summary: On November 12, 2001, about 0916:15 eastern standard time, American Airlines flight 587, an Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053, crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York. Flight 587 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Las Americas International Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with 2 flight crewmembers, 7 flight attendants, and 251 passengers aboard the airplane. The airplane’s vertical stabilizer and rudder separated in flight and were found in Jamaica Bay, about 1 mile north of the main wreckage site. The airplane’s engines subsequently separated in flight and were found several blocks north and east of the main wreckage site. All 260 people aboard the airplane and 5 people on the ground were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. Flight 587 was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by the first officer’s unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs. Contributing to these rudder pedal inputs were characteristics of the Airbus A300-600 rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program.

The safety issues discussed in this report focus on characteristics of the A300-600 rudder control system design, A300-600 rudder pedal inputs at high airspeeds, aircraft-pilot coupling, flight operations at or below an airplane’s design maneuvering speed, and upset recovery training programs. Safety recommendations concerning these issues are addressed to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Direction Général de l’Aviation Civile.



aircraft accident report
http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2004/AAR0404.pdf

fly

the NORC results proved in hard numbers that gore won 2k election, even with all the fraud and cheating....strangely enough, the sept 11th disaster had postponed the publication of the NORC results until nov 10th/01 when flight 587 convenietly blew up (firemen and others immediately reported that flight 587 'exploded' suggesting a terror plot) but 'terror' against airlines at that point would have destroyed the airlines completely, which was not good for bush, so pigmedia immediately reported flight 587 was just a lil ole goddarn accident (ie wings fell off and flew away, the tail wagged etc) according to pigmedia....the media discipline during the flight 587 fiasco showed that there had been some kind of preparation for any disaster type news: for a plane to be victim of terror in aftermath of 911 while the anthrax scare was still going on, killing over 200 people, one would expect the newsmedia to raise concern about terror to great heights, but the news did the opposite, they very quickly reassured the public that 587 just had an accident. even local news hurriedly said that 'an accident' caused crash and meanwhile tom and nicole MAYBE had sex in australia etc.....here's wolf blitzer with the detail....