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A TAIL'S TALE: FLIGHT 587 & AMERICAN AIRLINES' AIRBUSES... While the NTSB continues its investigation of the crash of American Airlines 587, which killed 265 last year, more than 60 pilots for American have signed on to ground the carrier's entire A300 fleet. AA is the only U.S. passenger carrier that flies the A300-600, operating about 34. The concerned 60, who represent about 15 percent of all pilots flying the jets for AA, seem to carry the strongest opinion on the matter. The Allied Pilots Association (APA) last week issued a statement stating that "... the union's leadership still has...

WASHINGTON, Mar 28, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Federal safety officials are reviewing a request by some American Airlines pilots to ground the Airbus A300-600, one of which crashed in New York last year. Spokesmen for the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board said they have received a 70-page report from the pilots. "Serious consideration must be given to grounding the entire A300-600 fleet until its airworthiness can be assured," said a letter accompanying the report, signed by eight pilots. A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press. American Airlines and Airbus Industries...

Monday March 11, 3:34 pm Eastern TimeTest Reveals Problem With Tail on Another American Airlines' Airbus Jet By: J. Lynn Lunsford, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal DALLAS -- Testing on the tail fin of a second American Airlines Airbus A300 involved in an in-flight upset in 1997 has turned up problems with the all- composite tail that could provide clues about what caused another American jetliner to crash in November. The tests, which were the result of the ongoing investigation into the crash of American Flight 587, showed that one of the six lug nuts that holds the...

NTSB Advisory National Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 February 25, 2002 FIFTH UPDATE ON NTSB INVESTIGATION INTO CRASH OF AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 587 The National Transportation Safety Board today released the following updated information on its investigation of the November 12, 2001, crash of American Airlines flight 587 in Belle Harbor, New York, which resulted in the deaths of all 260 persons aboard and 5 persons on the ground. Vertical Stabilizer and Rudder Examination continues on the accident aircraft's vertical stabilizer and rudder at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Although the work is still in the ...

<p>February 25, 2002 -- Only 11 miles from the Twin Towers site, a Queens neighborhood is struggling to rebuild the city's other Ground Zero as residents wonder if life will ever be the same after the disaster that struck Nov. 12. At 9:16 that morning, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus carrying 260 people from JFK to the Dominican Republic, smashed into Belle Harbor, killing everyone aboard and five people on the ground.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — The morning routine above John F. Kennedy International Airport was shattered Nov. 12 when a voice burst onto air traffic radio. "Tower, look ... to the south, there's an aircraft crashing," an unidentified man, possibly a pilot on another flight, said at 9:16:13 a.m. "Say again," replied a female air traffic controller in the airport's tower. "An aircraft just crashed to the south of the field," the man continued. "Affirm a fireball." American Airlines Flight 587, bound from New York City to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, took off less than two minutes before with no sign of trouble. As it flew toward the Belle Harbor section of Queens, the jet maneuvered violently, and its 27-foot-high vertical tail fin ripped off. The Airbus A300 plunged to the ground; 265 people died in the crash.</p>

FAA releases tapes of doomed American Airlines flight 02/20/2002 Associated Press WASHINGTON - Doomed American Airlines Flight 587 took off without problems, though pilots were warned of turbulence from the plane that preceded it in the air, newly released air traffic control tapes show. Related Tape transcript Tapes of conversations between air traffic controllers and crew of the American Airlines Airbus A300-600 showed no problems until a voice is heard saying that the plane was descending to the ground. The tapes, released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board, do not indicate whether the voice was that of a ...

<p>WASHINGTON — The rudders on Airbus A300s, including the one that crashed in New York City in November, might be more susceptible to violent movement that can tear a tail off commercial jets, federal safety investigators say.</p> <p>The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that the tails of all jets can break off with violent rudder movement and that the Federal Aviation Administration should warn pilots against taking excessive rudder action.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON - Federal safety officials said yesterday that pilots who find it necessary to take sudden, evasive maneuvers in a terrorist scenario should remain vigilant about the pressure they apply to rudders.</p> <p>"Certain rudder inputs . . . during certain stages of a flight can cause catastrophic failure of an airplane's vertical stabilizer," said Marion Blakey, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.</p>

Safety investigators still pursuing cause of Flight 587 crash By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press, 2/8/2002 11:52 WASHINGTON (AP) Federal aviation safety officials said Friday they have not yet identified the cause of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 last November but said pilots should be vigilant about the pressure they apply to rudders. ''Certain rudder inputs by pilots made during certain stages of a flight can cause catastrophic failure of an airplane's vertical stabilizer,'' Marion Blakey, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference. Blakey said the concern was about all aircraft, not just the Airbus ...

Tail sections on most, if not all, large jets can be sheared off by certain rudder movements WASHINGTON -- Investigators trying to figure out why the tail fin broke off of an American Airlines jet last November have reached a conclusion that many pilots and others find startling: The tail sections on most, if not all, large jets can be sheared off by certain rudder movements. On American Flight 587, the 27-foot-high tail fin tore loose after a series of violent rudder swings back and forth. The rudder is a panel at the rear of a jet's tail that allows ...

As many as 10 recent air crashes, including the American Airlines disaster in New York last November, could have been linked to a newly uncovered scam by which old and faulty aircraft parts were sold as new, it was revealed yesterday. In what is being described as a scandal which will "shake the whole aviation world", investigators claim to have uncovered a multimillion pound bogus parts business which could affect more than 1,000 aircraft. Yesterday it emerged that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a warning to 167 countries over the potential danger caused by the scam. And ...

<p>January 29, 2002 -- American Airlines has known for more than 10 years that its Airbus A300s have a tail problem that causes violent reactions to turbulence, says a former flight attendant, who was severely injured on a plane similar to the one that crashed in Belle Harbor.</p>

<p>January 28, 2002 -- Federal investigators probing the November crash of Flight 587 into the Rockaways are studying photos taken from an area tollbooth that capture the plane's fateful plunge.</p> <p>And Italian police are investigating whether aircraft parts sold by a company suspected of fraud played a role in the disaster and an earlier plane crash in Italy.</p>

The FBI has begun a criminal investigation into the Airbus crash in November last year that killed 265 people in New York. Thousands of used aircraft parts have been seized by police in Italy. Italian and American investigators are exploring a link between the alleged sale by three companies based in Rome of second-hand parts to national and international airlines and two air crashes – the one in the New York suburb of Queens and a domestic airline accident near Genoa in 1999, in which four died. Preliminary evidence in the case of the American Airlines Airbus A300 that nosedived ...

News that a second toll booth video camera captured doomed American Airlines Flight 587's breakup moments after its Nov. 12 takeoff from New York's JFK airport raises new questions about the candor and thoroughness of investigators conducting the probe into the disaster. Time.com reported Sunday that National Transportation Safety Board investigators "last week got their first look at a remarkable videotape of the deadly accident." Time adds: "This is the second video record the board has obtained of the crash, but the first one was virtually useless because the plane could be seen only as a tiny speck." In ...

Flight 587: Video May Hold the Key BY SALLY B. DONNELLY Sunday, Jan. 27, 2002 Frustrated investigators looking into the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 have an important new piece of evidence. Government sources tell Time that analysts at the National Transportation Safety Board last week got their first look at a remarkable videotape of the deadly accident. Recorded by a surveillance camera at a New York City area tollbooth, the tape captures nearly the entire catastrophe that sent the Airbus A300 crashing into a residential neighborhood in Queens less than 3 min. after takeoff from John F. Kennedy ...

..snip.. Recorded by a surveillance camera at a New York City area tollbooth, the tape captures nearly the entire catastrophe that sent the Airbus A300 crashing into a residential neighborhood in Queens less than 3 min. after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 12. According to an NTSB source, the plane can be seen "flying along normally and intact, and suddenly things start to go very wrong." The video records the plane as it begins its descent. ... Snip ..

Frustrated investigators looking into the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 have an important new piece of evidence. Government sources tell Time that analysts at the National Transportation Safety Board last week got their first look at a remarkable videotape of the deadly accident. Recorded by a surveillance camera at a New York City area tollbooth, the tape captures nearly the entire catastrophe that sent the Airbus A300 crashing into a residential neighborhood in Queens less than 3 min. after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 12. According to an NTSB source, the plane can be ...

Did Rudder Motions Snap Off A300 Fin? MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM/LOS ANGELES Rudder limiter protects aircraft when flying straight. But pilots should know: In a side slip, 'you're on your own.' Simple rudder motions on the Airbus A300-600R, the aircraft type in the American Airlines Flight 587 crash, can create forces exceeding ultimate load on the vertical stabilizer and possibly break it off, according to an engineering analysis by Aviation Week &amp; Space Technology. The study was prompted by the loss of the A300 last Nov. 12 after takeoff from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, but the principle ...