By Philip Newman
Federal investigators studying the crash of a jetliner at Belle Harbor that killed 265 people said they had determined that an abrupt maneuver of a plane’s rudder can bring disastrous consequences.
The National Transportation Safety Board did not say that was the cause of the Nov. 12 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 or even whether it had anything to do with the crash, although the tail shattered and fell off before the Dominican Republic-bound jetliner went down.
The NTSB said the condition applied to jetliners in general, not just the Airbus A300 of the type that crashed.
“We have written to the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Jane Garvey, urging the agency to take action,” said NTSB Chairman Marion Blakey at a news conference in Washington.
Blakey said the investigator had revealed “a safety concern” as far as use of rudders was concerned.
“We have calculated that certain rudder movement inputs by pilots could cause a catastrophic failure of an airliner’s vertical tail fin,” he said. “This concern is not limited to the A300 or even to Airbus models. Our concern is industry wide.”
Blakey said that based on interviews with pilots, it appeared that many pilots have not been made aware that too heavy pressure on rudder pedals “can jeopardize the integrity of the vertical tail fin.”
He said it was important that pilots know how little pressure on rudder pedals is needed at certain times, particularly at high speeds.
“We are asking the FAA to require pilot training programs that describe the certification requirements for airliner models,” Blakey said. He said such training should explain the consequences of rudder use in circumstances “described in our letter and that identify the light pedal forces needed to achieve maximum pedal deflections at high speeds.”
NTSB investigators along with scientists and engineers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are also studying the composite materials from which the vertical stabilizer of the aircraft is made.
The vertical stabilizer of the A300 jet broke off as the plane was flying at a 2,400-foot altitude after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The crash was the second deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 136.
