Originally Posted by
funfly
That might be the case but it will be of more concern if this was a structural failure.
To some extent we can take precautions against outsiders taking action even though these actions may only be to reassure passengers and to make it more difficult for the perpetrators. Structure failures would reflect on the airworthiness of a lot of aircraft currently in service with far more repercussions.
FF
Strangely, considering this forum, this point seems to have been grossly underestimated. Rather than join those running around trying to prove it was a bomb it might be best to work painstakingly to show that it could not have been a structural failure.
The Horizontal Stabilizer and rudder broke off. It would appear that only one half of the HS has been found and it shows extreme structural failure breaking upward
without apparent impact damage from aircraft structures. This is a failure most aircraft engineers would say was close to impossible to envisage even if there had been a bomb in the rear of the aircraft. I think I am right in saying that there is not a case of a 321 crash where the horizontal stabilizer has broken away cleanly at its attachment point.
We will be living with terrorist bombs on aircraft for decades to come and there are ways of ensuring security. But we also need to ensure that there is no problem with maintenance or airframe design that might cause this type of breakup. So the investigators really need to find the other HS and show how and why they broke off the aircraft.