Or the inverse: engine falls off which creates a large yaw moment which
rotates the vertical stab into the oncoming air which may have knocked

off

the vertical stab.
[No signature file]

Why so shy?

ALL vertical stabs on multi eng A/C are designed to proved more than

enough

lateral load to cope with a max thrust engine and a dragging engine on the
opposite side, as part of the normal flying loads.  This is nowhere near
enough to tear it off if the vert stab was structurally normal.  These
things are not that flimsy by a long shot.

OTOH, flutter creates loads MANY (10X?) times normal design aero loads.
Single engine flight is absolutely normal for the airframe and causes no
loads that
were not part of the design of the airframe.  Flutter is NOT survivable in
almost
all cases.  Flutter nearly always results in catastrophic structural

failure

and
the aircraft arriving at the ground in many pieces. The few cases of A/C
surviving serious flutter (as opposed to nibbling at the edge of flutter

during

test flights with control taps) have mostly been composite aircraft

because

of the higher internal damping in the composite structure, compared to the
very low internal damping of aluminum structures.  Compare the sound of
a wooden bat on a ball and an aluminum bat on a ball.  Flutter is very,

very

bad.  Single engine flight is nearly normal.

Bill Freeman
Long EZ builder & pilot
BSME, MSME
EAA Technical Counselor

If the rudder structural stiffness was damaged, in prior severe turbulence
or there was some
other deterioration of the structure, flutter could be more likely.

Paul Lamar

Mark Wrote

In the first two minutes after take off, they would have still been below
10000' and thus limited to a max of 250 knots, maybe less given the
congestion around NY. This would make flutter somewhat unlikely (but then
again who knows what condition that bulkhead was in).

 
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