Originally Posted by
Cornish Jack
One effect of multiple watchings left me somewhat leery of a commonly held theory that the videos lead to the F O's over controlling yaw input in the New York disaster. Warren's advice was much more measured than has been suggested in some comments.
The presentations were only one, though an important, piece of American's Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program (AAMP). The lectures were followed up by sim sessions in which unusual attitude and stall recoveries were practiced. Unfortunately, as we all know now, the simulators were not programmed to accurately replicate the aircraft performance in these corners of the envelope. Thus one could employ aggressive maneuvers, including rudder use, in the sim and come away with the impression that nothing bad would happen in the aircraft. That combined with some little known aspects of the A-300's rudder response contributed to the FO's control inputs that led to the failure of the vertical stabilizer.