Action Comes After Air Transat Rudder Separation

Acting out of "an abundance of caution," Airbus says it will recommend visual and aural inspections of rudders aboard its A300-600 and A310 aircraft. This, after the bizarre separation of an entire rudder from the tail of an Air Transat flight at altitude on its way from Cuba to Canada.

An Airbus spokesman told Bloomberg News the company will recommend these inspections -- a visual once-over and a "tap" inspection -- take place within the next few weeks. Those inspections usually come up every five years.

The recommendation, which could come as early as Tuesday, comes on the heels of an in-flight incident involving a Air Transat flight from Varadero, Cuba to Quebec City, Canada, more than a week ago. Departing in the wee hours of the morning, the aircraft, with 270 people on board, was at cruise altitude 30-minutes into the flight when the rudder suddenly departed the aircraft. There was virtually nothing left of the composite rudder -- it had separated at the hinges.

The crew was able to use ailerons and differential thrust to nurse the aircraft back to Cuba where it landed without incident. Air Transat immediately grounded the rest of the A310s in its fleet -- all ten of them. Some flights were delayed for hours during the inspections, but all ten aircraft were returned to service later that day.

As for the incident aircraft, "We don't know yet what happened'' with the Air Transat plane, Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell told Bloomberg News. "We feel that this event is so unusual it really does require that we do something to be sure that there's not a problem out there.''

The Canadian Transportation Safety Board is investigating the Air Transat incident. But there's a problem. "Structure-wise we don't have much left of the rudder there, so what we've decided to do is remove the whole tail of the aircraft,' 'Canadian Transportation Safety Board Senior Investigator Marc Fernandez told Bloomberg. A CTSB team will travel to Cuba Thursday to further its investigation.

FMI: www.tsb.gc.ca/en/index.asp