On 1/26/2013 8:18 AM, Keith W wrote:
Bottom line is that the pilot overstressed the airframe as
his use of alternate full rudder inputs resulted in large
angle of sideslip which tore off the stabilizer. The loads
imposed by the sideslip were more than double the design
limits.

None of which excuses the design. Pilots are taught from day one that
full deflection of flight controls is generally permissible below a
certain magic "maneuvering speed" without causing harm to the airframe.
Given that the accident flight was in the climb phase, that plane was
almost certainly below that speed.

So this turned out to be a flight limitation that the pilots hadn't been
told about and was nowhere in the flight manual. This DESIGN DEFECT was
"fixed" by changing the flight manual to add new flight limitations and
retraining pilots. To be fair, I know of no other similar accidents
since then.

Going back to my central point, the A300 easily survived that negative
publicity, as will the 787.