grimmrad,
I could not hazard a guess about what happened to the tail of the A330 over the Atlantic other than it came off, not unheard of in big Airbus accidents.
The AF A330 would probably have been cruising at around 280 knots indicated B4 running into any trouble (turbulence or frozen pitots or whatever).
The AA A300 was flying I think somewhat less than 200 knots.
Of all the jet transport commercial line pilots flying back before 2002, there were probably only one or two who knew anything was probably dangerous about rudder reversals. (Rudder reversals were not taught at AMR, neither were there any cautions about rudder reversals mentioned in Boeing, Airbus or McD flight manuals, AMR flight manuals anyhow). Anyway 411's airline is fortunate to have him as he was probably one of those one or two knowledgeable pilots concerning rudder reversals and fin strength of modern jet transports.