So Bearfoil
Isn't everyone on this thread dancing around the very frightening notion that the VS separated in flight due to unexpected aerodynamic loads or pilot-induced loads? Such would certainly produce a flat spin. How could this happen?
I can accept one incident (587) in which pilot inputs break the airplane (though I don't buy this explanation at barely above maneuvering speed), but two, with the same sort of failure?
I am a former round-motor driver who finds himself SLF on the 330 at least once a month on non-aviation related business, and am regrettably not an engineer. I like the Airbus' comforts and hold no grudge for EADS nor any prejudice in favour of Boeing, whose 737 rudder hard-over issue was neatly covered up. And I confess I couldn't navigate myself around a glass cockpit for 2 minutes. So, ignoramus, yes... but!
When the second Lockheed Electra L-188 shed a wing in flight the manufacturer pulled out all stops, including enlisting NASA, to discover the cause (an unfortunate harmonic in whirl mode that broke the main spar). They fixed, at their own cost, every L-188 in revenue service. The speed with which Lockheed responded was commendable.
Now we have at least two Airbii that have died in-flight with vertical stabs found a bit of a distance from the rest of the airframe. Odd coincidence here: the errant L-188 wing was found a bit of a distance from the rest of the airplane.
Lockheed swallowed their pride and fixed their mess in quite a public way. Will EADS do the same?