PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Interesting note about AA Airbus crash in NYC
Old 24th Dec 2006, 06:06
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Graybeard
 
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One more observation:

The NTSB, and especially the FAA, will rarely identify a serious problem until there is a solution available. They really didn't want to ground every 737 in the world indefinitely, as they did the DC-10 in 1979.

By the time the 737 yaw damper problem was conceded, Boeing had a retrofit fix, and a longer term fix for new 737s in the form of a new fail active rudder they needed for CAT IIIb, anyhow.

Planes with wing mounted engines may be a lttle more efficient than those with tail mounted engines, btw, but they require a much larger and more powerful rudder to fly on one engine. That magnifies the seriousness of a wayward rudder.

GB
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