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.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov