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| The vertical stabilizer from American Airlines flight 587 is hoisted from Jamaica Bay, New York in this 2001 photo. (File Photo) |
WASHINGTON – An internal memorandum shows that Airbus
knew the tail on its A300-600 jetliner was subject to failure more than four
years before an American Airlines flight lost its tail and crashed in New
York in 2001, an official with the airline's pilots union said Monday.
The Airbus memo, which union officials said they obtained from crash-related
court files, states that movement of the A300-600's rudder back and forth
could create stresses far beyond what the plane's tail was designed to tolerate
– a critical point that manufacturers call "ultimate load." The memo
was written in June 1997 by Thomas Thurnagel, an Airbus engineer in Germany.
"People died because this memo wasn't disclosed, in my opinion," said John
David, deputy safety chairman for the Allied Pilots Association.
Airbus, which has overtaken Boeing as the world's dominant commercial aircraft
manufacturer, denied the allegation. Airbus spokesman David Venz accused
the union of "shopping" the document to the media.
The memo's release and the Airbus response represent the latest volleys in
a war of words between the manufacturer and American. It comes two weeks
before the National Transportation Safety Board is to issue its findings
on the crash of American Flight 587 on Nov. 12, 2001. Two hundred and sixty-five
people were killed when the aircraft plunged into a Queens neighborhood shortly
after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport.
NTSB officials couldn't be reached for comment Monday, a federal holiday.
American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks said the carrier couldn't comment
on the memo because of court-imposed restrictions. But he said the airline
had been "concerned for a long time about how much Airbus knew and never
properly disclosed."
Airbus has consistently maintained that it wasn't aware of any potentially
catastrophic design flaw with the A300-600 before the crash. Instead, it
has blamed mistakes by pilot Sten Molin for the mistakes.
The New York Times reported last month that the safety board "is poised
to conclude that actions by [Mr. Molin] were the main cause" of the Flight
587 crash.
Mr. David, however, said that if Airbus had alerted A300-600 operators or
the safety board to the potential rudder problems, the crash might have been
prevented.
The plane's tail snapped off 103 seconds into a flight from JFK to the Dominican
Republic.
Airbus maintains Mr. Molin caused the accident by using the rudder too
aggressively to steady the plane after encountering turbulence. It says it
warned American of "dangerous use of rudder and the fact that such use could
result in loss of controlled flight or damage to aircraft structures."
Mr. Thurnagel's memo summarizes Airbus' investigation into the near crash
of an A300-600 on approach to Miami in May 1997. The pilot lost control of
American Airlines Flight 903 at 16,000 feet and moved the rudder from side
to side to recover, almost tearing off the tail in the process. "Rudder movement
from left limit to right limit will produce loads on fin/rear fuselage above
ultimate design load," the memo says.
Had this problem been disclosed, Mr. David said, pilots of the A300-600 could
have been cautioned about use of the rudder; he described the rudder control
as being "unusually sensitive" to foot pressure. The NTSB didn't issue such
a warning until after Flight 587 was lost. |
