[eno_]

Another interesting Google result: While "unusual attitude" is a very common expression used in accident investigations, "airframe rattle" appears nowhere before AA587. It is a neologism. The phrase was made up to explain noises on the CVR. They could just as well be the sound of small explosives detonating. Also telling is the fact the plane jerked to one side and then to the other, corresponding with the noises.

[copycat]

Bump. I have postulated that an explosion in the middle of the plane, when heard from the cockpit, could very well sound like an "airframe rattle." Due to the fact that the sound comes from behind you in a vehicle travelling at several hundreds of mph, there would be distortion, doeppler and otherwise to the "sound", but the vibration would carry right through the hull.