You be the judge, but the 707 was a known quantity with regard to rudder hardovers...for quite a long time.
And, the result was, shall we say, not good.
Not just rudder hard overs, 411A.
08/28/1973 21:50
LOCATION: Thirty-five miles west of Los Angeles, California
CARRIER: Trans World Airlines FLIGHT:
AIRCRAFT: Boeing B-707-331B
REGISTRY: N8705T S/N: 18916/455
ABOARD: 152 FATAL: 1 GROUND:
DETAILS: The plane porpoised while descending to LAX. The
aircraft was subjected to 2 minutes of peak acceleration forces of 2.4
g A combination of design tolerances in the aircraft's longitudinal
control system which, under certain conditions, produced a critical
relationship between control forces and aircraft response.