Ptkay, this excerpt from Airbus' response to AA may be of some help:
Item: Design Maneuvering Speed (VA) - From the American Airlines submission (p. 42): "Pilots worldwide had ... the erroneous belief that rudder movements at any airspeed below the design maneuvering speed could not cause structural failure." The definition of VA impacts certification requirements, which presently require the structure to withstand the force of full control surface movement in one direction, then a return to neutral, but not the greater loads imparted by reversals (i.e., the air loads due to large induced sideslip angles). Comments: Both the airline and Airbus believe that the term VA needs to be clarified. In its June 2002 technical bulletin on the use of rudder, Boeing's comments about VA suggest an improved working definition: A speed at or below which "a single input to any set of control surfaces (elevators, ailerons, rudders to the maximum available authority ... to be in one axis (not in combination) and do not include control input reversal or oscillatory inputs." This Boeing bulletin was issued in response to an NTSB recommendation coming out of the AA 587 investigation. Airbus issued a comparable document, which cautioned: "Certification regulations do not consider the loads imposed on structure when there is a sudden, full, or nearly full, rudder movement that is opposite the sideslip."
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...114714587/pg_2