Did anyone ask this question about the possibility of the tail on an Airbus just falling off in flight?
Before they field tested the possibilty in NYC, I mean?
You might be surprised how many veteran pilots will no longer accept duty flying Airbus because of that. The FAA’s response was to restrict full scale rudder deflections on ALL aircraft with composite rudders. It’s like saying you have 50,000 #’s of thrust, but you can only use 30,000, even if it means you are going to fly into that mountain up ahead. Absolutely crazy.
That was a failure of the means of attaching the tail and/or the rudder-actuating mechanism, not the composite material itself.