Air France tail found. Wow looks like a clean break....

[ackattacker]

I'm guessing you have not had any flight test experience. Simple question - would you want to design/fly/ride-in an airplane that would allow full deflection of a control surface to exceed the load limit of the accompanying structure? (assuming you are within the flight envelope of the aircraft)?

I don't mean to get personal, but you are frankly talking out of your ass. I certainly hope you have no flight test experience.

Can you fully deflect the elevator of an airplane at normal cruise speed (above Va) and expect to remain within load limits? Or course not. Airplanes are not bumper cars, you can't just do whatever you want with the controls and expect everything to be OK. There's no promise that the airplane is unbreakable. No doubt Airbus has designed a acceleration limit into the elevator control system, but many of us fly airplanes without such a system and somehow manage to not break the wings off.

 

[luckytohaveajob]

French President Sarkozy flying used A330 as AF One

French President Sarkozy just upgraded his plane to the A330 last year. I wonder if they buy a new model.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/world/europe/12france.html

 

[habubuaza]

You know, keeping in mind that AF447 is a far way off from being solved (if ever) and AA587's tail separation is raising new questions, how about Air Transat? Didn't they lose a tail on an A310? I am not one to speculate, but come on. I never really did hear what came out of the A310 incident.

Air Transat : Status on Flight TS961 of March 6, 2005
Monday March 7, 12:28 am ET

MONTREAL, March 7 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Transat Flight TS 961 that left Varadero, Cuba, for Québec City, had to return to Varadero approximately 30 minutes after take-off, due to a mechanical failure. There were 261 passengers and 9 crewmembers on board the Airbus A310 aircraft, which landed normally in Varadero at 4:18 p.m. local time on Sunday. Deplaning occurred normally through the loading bridge.

Passengers were sent to hotels in Varadero. Passengers will arrive in Québec City in the early morning hours of Monday.

Preliminary observations indicate that a portion of the rudder detached from the aircraft, as the flight was progressing under normal conditions at its cruising altitude.

Air Transat operates 10 Airbus A310s. The Company immediately carried out a thorough visual examination of all its Airbus A310s. The inspection was completed in the following hours and no anomaly was detected. The inspection caused delays on certain flights but no Air Transat flights have been cancelled. The Company expects to be back to a normal schedule on Monday.

Following the incident, Air Transat immediately advised Airbus, Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Based on available information, an investigation will be conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, with support and participation of Cuban authorities, Air Transat and Airbus.

The aircraft involved in Flight TS 961, an Airbus A310, was put into service in 1991. It had an A-Check inspection on March 1, 2005 and its next major C-Check inspection is scheduled for 2006.

Flight TS 961 left Varadero at 2:48 a.m. on Sunday, March 6.The problem occurred sometime about 3:15 a.m. and the aircraft landed normally at 4:18 a.m. in Varadero