You know, call me a pessimist, but I don't buy it.  Airliners are not brought
down by wake turbulence.  Are they really trying to tell us that out of the
thousands of airliners flying including hundreds of Airbus A300's and dozens
of airlines flying them all over the world the first one to be brought down
by wake turbulence ever was an American Airlines A300 leaving New York in the
midst of a world wide war on terrorism?  This aircraft was brought down by
clever sabatoge, explosive or a stealthy SAM.  Sorry to be negative, but what
are the odds?.

Dave Leonard

I think the design was defective. Not robust enough for long term use.
We have a long history of aluminum construction. This was one of the
first airplanes to use carbon fiber. Aging is always a problem with
plastics. I think this might have been just the first to fail. I am 
willing to bet that the A300's tail will have to be beefed up.

Paul Lamar
 
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