Originally Posted by
bubbers44
Slats one, I have always thought your feeling that he was reacting to the aircraft yawing because the vertical stab or rudder was failing was correct. Did they study if the rudder inputs were before or after the aircraft yawed? I believe I read that the actuators on the rudder sends signals to the flight recorder, not the rudder pedals.
http://ntsb.gov/Events/2001/AA587/board_mtg_anim.htm
"Flight Path Animation" shows relationship between rudder position and lateral loads so yes, they did study that.
3 rudder swings in 3-4 seconds, followed by full right rudder for two seconds, followed by 2 more rudder swings in two seconds. It's at the end of this 7-8 second timeframe, that included 5 full rudder movements, where data acquisition from the rudder position failed(fin departed).