Wed, Apr 06, 2005
Says New Information About Airbus Rudders Warrants Second
Look
Citing the FAA's new AD
on Airbus A300 and A310 rudders, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)
wants the NTSB to reopen its investigation into the crash of
American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, NY.
As ANN has extensively reported, the November
12th, 2001 accident took 260 lives when the vertical stabilizer and
rudder separated from the aircraft. Three years later, the NTSB
ruled the accident was probably caused by a combination of pilot
error, inadequate flight crew training and rudder controls that
were too sensitive.
But now, Schumer wants the investigation reopened because of the
rudder separation that forced a Canadian Air Transat A310 on its
way from Cuba to Quebec City to turn around and make an emergency
landing back in Cuba. No one was hurt in the March 6th incident, but in
its wake, the FAA ordered the rudders inspected on all 117 A300s
and A310s now flying in the US.
The Airworthiness Directive, said Schumer, is all the NTSB needs
to reopen the AAL 587 investigation.
"The FAA is providing new, and possibly damaging information
about the safety of these rudders and the NTSB owes it to the many
families of the victims of the crash and to the traveling public to
find out whether traveling on these planes is dangerous," said
Schumer, who was quoted in New York Newsday.
But the NTSB is already on it, according to agency spokesman Ted
Lopatkiewicz. "We will evaluate all findings from this
investigation to determine if they have any relevance to our
findings related to American Airlines Flight 587," he said.
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