Posted on 03/08/2005 6:03:22 AM PST by jaydubya2
Another Airbus Rudder Problem? Mon, 07 Mar '05
Several Air Transat Planes Grounded After A310 Almost Lost Vertical Stabilizer Ten Air Transat aircraft were grounded Sunday after the rudder on an Airbus A310 "nearly fell off," according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
On Saturday, a spokesman for the airline said the aircraft, flying from Varadero, Cuba to Quebec City, developed "mechanical trouble" about 30-minutes into the flight. Pressed for particulars, the spokesman told CBC the rudder "partially fell off."
The aircraft immediately turned back to Varadero, landing normally even though part of the rudder was missing.
All 261 passengers were put up in local hotels and were eventually retrieved by another Air Transat A310.
The other nine A310s in the airline's fleet were immediately grounded and underwent two-hour long inspections wherever they were parked, according to the airline.
All of the other aircraft were back in operation by Sunday night.
Shades Of AAL 587? Although the circumstances of the rudder incident aboard Air Transat Flight 961 haven't yet come to light, the event was eerily reminiscent of the last journey of American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 headed from New York's JFK to the Dominican Republic on November 12th, 2001. Scant minutes after take-off, the flight went down in a Queens neighborhood, killing all on board. The NTSB ruled the copilot overworked the rudder pedals in an attempt to escape wake turbulence. But there were concerns about the vertical stabilizer aboard the A300 as early as 1997.
The A300 and the A310 are within the same Airbus family, according to manufacturer literature.
Check This out!
Ping!
I wont fly in one of those heaps
Airbus is Eurocrap. I will not board one.
GMTA
I never bought that "wake turbulence" BS, perhaps more hard facts will be known SOON!!
I'd rather fly on Ilyushin or Tupolev planes than an A310.
Some SAC guys proved it was possible to land a big jet with vertical tail assembly completely gone when their B-52 shed the whole thing in turbulence. They shopped around for a runway without a crosswind and got down OK at Little Rock AFB. I don't remember when this happened but I do remember seeing the pictures.
Of course, they didn't have a computer that was smarter than the pilots.
NOTE TO SELF: Book no flights on A310.............Hell No We Won't Go!......(AIR FRANCE).......
(((.)))
As I remember it was 1968, battle damage, and the A/C landed at Guam..It was a B-52D
But how can a pilot on an Airbus overuse the rudder? Airbusses use fly-by-wire controls that won't allow pilots to exceed the aircrafts design limits.
And they plan to carry 800 passengers on one flight.
Plastic fantastic bump!
Me neither...ever since watching that crash in France and they balmed it on the pilot.
> I've been told that the reason the 587 tail feel
> off was because the copilot overused the rudder.
That's the official story.
Here's a dissenting site:
http://www.usread.com/flight587/FinalReport/default.html
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