Pilots likely didn’t know jet’s tail broke off, official says

By Larry Neumeister

Associated Press

NEW YORK – The pilots on American Flight 587 probably didn’t know the tail had broken off as they desperately tried to right the doomed jetliner, a federal investigator said today.

“They don’t have a rearview mirror,” George Black Jr. of the National Transportation Safety Board said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They have no idea they’ve lost a tail.”

Black said investigators are almost certain the 27-foot tail was the first part to break off the Airbus A300. Both engines also fell off as the plane went down shortly after takeoff Monday from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five more on the ground in Queens.

Investigators have not determined the cause of the crash, but say all signs point to an equipment problem rather than a criminal act. Black said the tail, which was found virtually undamaged, “doesn’t appear to have been sabotaged in any way.”

In Washington, the Federal Aviation Administration was preparing to order inspections of Airbus A300s, focusing on the tail. The order would cover 90 of the European-built planes used by three U.S. airlines – American, FedEx and United Parcel Service. American has already agreed to do voluntary inspections of its 34 remaining A300s.

“We understand that American Airlines is inspecting their fleet as a very precautionary measure,” said a spokeswoman for Airbus in Toulouse, France. “We do not yet know what went wrong.”

The tail assembly on the Airbus A300 includes a tail fin and rudder; without those parts, the jetliner would have suffered a loss of stability and turning control.

Investigators have focused on what caused the tail assembly to shear off cleanly as the flight left for the Dominican Republic. They are looking at the makeup of the tail as well as whether turbulence from another jet could have caused the tail assembly to break free.

A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 took off from the same runway before Flight 587. Flight controllers properly cleared the planes to take off two minutes and 20 second apart, investigators said, but the actual takeoffs were one minute and 45 seconds apart.

A two-minute separation is the standard protocol. Investigators believe the JAL flight may not have actually taken off immediately after receiving clearance.

Black also said an FAA expert has arrived to inspect the tail, which is made of composites, or carbon-fiber reinforced plastic that is incredibly strong.

Composite materials started being used for major structural parts in commercial jets in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Black said there haven’t been any problems with the material, “but then we also haven’t lost any tails.”

Maintenance records indicate that before the plane was delivered to American Airlines in 1988, one of the six fittings that hold the tail to the fuselage had to be repaired by the manufacturer. The fitting’s thickness was increased and it was reinforced with rivets.

The cockpit voice recorder, one of the plane’s two black boxes, has offered potential clues to investigators.

For example, the co-pilot calls for maximum power about two minutes after takeoff, just after a pair of jet frame rattling noises are heard in the cockpit. Seconds later, the pilots indicate they were losing control.

“When they start talking about max power … they’ve gone into recovery mode,” Black said. “And they might be recovering from the wrong thing, because they don’t know” about the missing tail.

The voice recording ends just 19 seconds after the call for maximum power.

With much of its work on the ground done, the NTSB planned to shut down its main investigation in New York by Saturday and return to Washington, Black said.

The pace of the investigation has been extraordinarily rapid, with the voice recorder and the flight data recorder recovered within 24 hours and most of the plane’s major parts located quickly.

But a final determination on the cause could still be a year off, investigators cautioned.

At the crash site today, large pieces of shattered wreckage were pulled from the neighborhood where Flight 587 plunged to earth and workers with pitchforks and rakes moved methodically through smaller piles of rubble. The crash destroyed or damaged 11 homes.

The airline has changed the flight number from 587 to 619. The flight from Kennedy to the Dominican Republic was so well known among Dominicans that it was referenced in a popular song, “El Avion (The Plane).”

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said a memorial service will be held Sunday for victims of the crash, but specifics were not immediately disclosed.