SaturnV
16th Jan 2002, 15:49
With apologies to Capt PPRune for a new thread, but this news did not quite fit in with the header for the thread below on witnesses reports of fire and explosion.
From today's New York Times:
Crash Inquiry Finds Damage to Jet's Tail
January 16, 2002
By MATTHEW L. WALD
"WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 - The National Transportation Safety Board said today that it had found damage to the tail of the American Airlines jet that crashed in Queens on Nov. 12 but could not say whether it was a cause of the crash or an effect.
"Investigators are now searching salvage yards for an intact tail to see how much damage is typical in planes that have not crashed, the board said.
"At a laboratory at NASA's Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Va., where the tail of the downed plane is being examined, the investigators found separation between the tail's thousands of layers of carbon embedded in plastic.
"In the last few weeks, some investigators have said that in the absence of obvious precrash damage to the tail, they were looking hard at the actions of the crew. But the board stressed today that it had not ruled out structural defect,
or perhaps mechanical failure that could have caused the rudder to move. The rudder fell off the plane first, followed by the vertical portion of the tail, to which it was attached.
"Some pilots have suggested that the rudder moved faster than the pilots could possibly have worked the rudder pedals. Investigators are working on the theory, however, that the upset began when the co-pilot, who was flying the plane, used the rudder to respond to turbulence or some other problem.
"The board said that it had identified more than 350 witnesses to at least some part of the crash, but that the witnesses' statements varied. Some people said they saw fire or smoke before impact, but the board said it had found no physical evidence of a fire or explosion in flight.
"The board also said that its investigation had been slowed by the way that information was recorded on the flight data recorder. The recorder gets the same data that is used to
drive the instrument displays in the cockpit. Some of the data is averaged over brief periods, in a process called filtering, to keep needles or other cockpit indicators from jumping around, the board said. But to analyze the accident, technicians will have to unfilter the data, the
board said.
"The board, an investigatory and advisory body, recommended to the Federal Aviation Administration in 1994 that data sent to the recorder not be filtered. The board said today
that the F.A.A. had responded in 1997 that it had put a rule in place forbidding the use of a filter, and the board concluded that the F.A.A. had responded positively. But the problem still existed on the plane that crashed."
From today's New York Times:
Crash Inquiry Finds Damage to Jet's Tail
January 16, 2002
By MATTHEW L. WALD
"WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 - The National Transportation Safety Board said today that it had found damage to the tail of the American Airlines jet that crashed in Queens on Nov. 12 but could not say whether it was a cause of the crash or an effect.
"Investigators are now searching salvage yards for an intact tail to see how much damage is typical in planes that have not crashed, the board said.
"At a laboratory at NASA's Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Va., where the tail of the downed plane is being examined, the investigators found separation between the tail's thousands of layers of carbon embedded in plastic.
"In the last few weeks, some investigators have said that in the absence of obvious precrash damage to the tail, they were looking hard at the actions of the crew. But the board stressed today that it had not ruled out structural defect,
or perhaps mechanical failure that could have caused the rudder to move. The rudder fell off the plane first, followed by the vertical portion of the tail, to which it was attached.
"Some pilots have suggested that the rudder moved faster than the pilots could possibly have worked the rudder pedals. Investigators are working on the theory, however, that the upset began when the co-pilot, who was flying the plane, used the rudder to respond to turbulence or some other problem.
"The board said that it had identified more than 350 witnesses to at least some part of the crash, but that the witnesses' statements varied. Some people said they saw fire or smoke before impact, but the board said it had found no physical evidence of a fire or explosion in flight.
"The board also said that its investigation had been slowed by the way that information was recorded on the flight data recorder. The recorder gets the same data that is used to
drive the instrument displays in the cockpit. Some of the data is averaged over brief periods, in a process called filtering, to keep needles or other cockpit indicators from jumping around, the board said. But to analyze the accident, technicians will have to unfilter the data, the
board said.
"The board, an investigatory and advisory body, recommended to the Federal Aviation Administration in 1994 that data sent to the recorder not be filtered. The board said today
that the F.A.A. had responded in 1997 that it had put a rule in place forbidding the use of a filter, and the board concluded that the F.A.A. had responded positively. But the problem still existed on the plane that crashed."