Two words, bull-sh*t.
The rudder swung 11 degrees to the right for a half a second, 10.5 to the left for 0.3 seconds, between 11 and 10.5 to the right for 2 seconds, 10 left for a second, and 9.5 to the right before the data became unreliable (till the tail fell off).
The crew must have been tap-dancing on that rudder to make it move like that. It seems like the pilots did one thing and the rudder did it's own thing <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> .I could physically do that if I was hell-bent on it as I'm in pretty good shape, well coordinated and have strong-legs. But why the hell would I *WANT* to do that!? Who in their right mind would be flinging the rudder to the left, the right, the left, and the right like that? I think it's a malfunction. Didn't they find a bent-actuator rod in the wreckage?
My opinion, it's a defect in the composites that caused the tail to get overstressed like that and a mechanical problem, not pilot-error, that caused the rudder to behave erratically before failing. No tail should fail... even with full-rudder deflection. In fact rudder-harddovers have happened before. Remember those two 737 crashes? In either event the rudder went hard-over, and despite this, the tail stayed intact. They crashed, but the tail stayed on that plane until it hit the ground. I could understand the breakup happening if they were above maneuvering speed, but they were about 18 knots below it.
Composites have not been as tested and tried as have metals. Does this mean we give up on composites? No, it means we learn from our mistakes and re-design the composites until that rudder can take a full-deflection and not fly off the plane!
I started taking flying lessons when I was 15, which means I've been flying almost 21 years (almost 15 as an airline pilot (3 with Comair, almost 12 with Delta), I've flown aircraft ranging in size from a Cessna-152 all the way up to a 767-300ER (I'm now on the 757/767 -200's out of CVG) post 9/11), and *yes* there have been times where I've had to give it full-rudder (mostly with the props) to keep it flying straight, and no, the tail didn't come off. If it did, I'd be in a grave-yard, resting in pieces.
What Blakey is doing is very low. Blame the dead guys, they ain't gonna object <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> .
Anyone remember USAir 427? They claimed the F/O (the pilot flying) had a seizure, then they claimed he panicked and stepped on the wrong rudder peddle and for some stupid reason held it until they hit the ground "in a panic", and then they claimed this and that! It took 3 years before they finally got to the bottom of it.
You know, after awhile you begin to get a sixth-sense for detecting crap. Thank God for my BS repelling shoes though, when I'm about to step in a load of crap, it moves it out of the way so I don't get it on my shoes <img src="tongue.gif" border="0"> .
-Nikki