[oyez]

Lets see here. The plane was having engine proplems on the ground. Reportedly, someone fixed it. The engine was smoking on take off. Eyewitness say the plane seem to lack power. Then it it hit a flock of birds. And the vertical stabilizer fell off, way back there. There is no evidence of truth yet.

If the A300 is a fly by wire A/C could the reverse thrusters deploy by accedent? Would the NTSB tell us if it did?

[texasbluebell]

The engine was smoking on take off.

That's another thing to remember, a pilot in a plane behind 587 said that. So had it already hit the birds? Were they on the runway? When a big jet was roaring at them? IF it was birds, more likely they were flying, so that doesn't explain the smoking engine at take-off.