Bubers44
The vertical stab that was defective and patched out of the factory broke where the repair was done.
Yes that particular A300 had delamination issues during production and was "patched" as you say..... Boeing has done the same to a few of their composite tails.... but none of themn have as yet come off either.
Also, the accident aircraft had earlier in its' life been involved in a pretty significant in flight upset. So much so that AA pulled or downloaded the flight recdorder data and submitted it to Airbus for guidance. I do not know what guidance AA received from Airbus... but Airbus DID NOT share their calculation that the vertical stabilizer of the aircraft had been subjected to ULTIMATE load factor during the upset. That came out during the discovery phase of the accident aircraft legal battle.
As of yet I don't know that Airbus has complied with recommendations of changing rudder feel-throw-limiters on the A300 jet.