On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 18:05:42 -0400, Morgans wrote:


"Peter" wrote

But if there's a clear rule for what 'shouldn't be done' then it
would seem prudent to build it into the firmware for the fly-by-wire
system so that it can't be done.

BINGO

Seems to me that Airbus is, if not criminally responsible, morally and
legally responsible.


????

From what I hear (1) the US certification standards *do not* require the
rudder to be able to withstand the sort of forces the exercise in question
resulted in, and no plane, whether Boeing or Airbus, builds rudders that
would. This is presumably public knowledge, and presumably open
information available to American Airline; incidentally, the same scenario
would have led to a similar accident with a Boeing plane. (2) apparently,
Airbus had repeatedly warned AA about the flaws in AA's training
procedures, which recommended excessive rudder use, even in situations
that were patently unsafe.

So, it does seem to me that the biggest share of the blame should be with
AA. AA doe claim that the warnings from Airbus were not clear enough or
not strong enough. My problem with that is that AA was recommending the
same procedure with Boeing planes too. So presumably Boeing's warnings
were not strong enough either?