Originally posted by: CycloWizard
Basically, when you steer a plane with the tail rudder, the directed air flow creates a stress on the tail. The wake of the other plane increased that force by some amount. The tail mounting assembly couldn't handle the combined stress, since the part it was bolted into lost structural integrity during the bolting process. You're both right.Originally posted by: SuperTool
That was the NTSB conclusion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...an_Airlines_Flight_587. Apparently you are not supposed to use the rudder to steer the plane.
The A300, which took off just minutes after a Boeing 747 on the same runway, flew into the larger jet's wake, an area of very turbulent air. The co-pilot, Sten Molin, attempted to keep the plane upright with the rudder, but pushed the rudder too far to one side and then overcorrected too far to the other. The strength of the air flowing against the moving rudder stressed the aircraft's tail fin and eventually snapped it off entirely, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash. According to the NTSB, the crash would not have occurred but for the co-pilot's use of the rudder.![]()
So you think it's a problem with the Airbus plane, and you would have no problem being on a Boeing plane and having the pilot try the same maneuver?
