Subject: Air France Accident: Smoking Gun Found


 A Brazilian Naval unit reportedly found the complete vertical fin/
 rudder assembly of the doomed aircraft floating some 30 miles from
 the main debris field. The search for the flight recorders goes on,
 but given the failure history of the vertical fins on A300-series
 aircraft, an analysis of its structure at the point of failure will
 likely yield the primary cause factor in the breakup of the
 aircraft, with the flight recorder data (if found) providing only
 secondary contributing phenomena.

 The fin-failure-leading-to-breakup sequence is strongly suggested
 in the attached (below) narrative report by George Larson, Editor
 emeritus of Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine.

 It's regrettable that these aircraft are permitted to continue in
 routine flight operations with this known structural defect. It
 appears that safety finishes last within Airbus Industries, behind
 national pride and economics.  Hopefully, this accident will force
 the issue to be addressed, requiring at a minimum restricted
 operations of selected platforms, and grounding of some high-time
 aircraft until a re-engineered (strengthened) vertical fin/rudder
 attachment structure can be incorporated.

 Les (George Larson's Report)---------------------

 This is an account of a discussion I had recently with a
 maintenance professional
 who salvages airliner airframes for a living. He has been at it for
 a while, dba BMI
 Salvage at Opa Locka Airport in Florida. In the process of
 stripping parts, he sees
 things few others are able to see.  His observations confirm prior
 assessments of
 Airbus structural deficiencies within our flight test and aero
 structures communities
 by those who have seen the closely held reports of A3XX-series
 vertical fin failures.

 His observations:

 "I  have scrapped just about every type of transport aircraft from
 A-310,
 A-320, B-747, 727, 737, 707, DC-3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, MD-80, L-188,
 L1011
 and various Martin, Convair and KC-97 aircraft.

 Over a hundred of them.

 Airbus products are the flimsiest and most poorly designed as far as
 airframe structure is concerned by an almost obsession to utilize
 composite
 materials.

 I have one A310 vertical fin on the premises from a demonstration I
 just
 performed.  It was pathetic to see the composite structure shatter
 as it did,
 something a Boeing product will not do.

 The vertical fin along with the composite hinges on rudder and
 elevators is
 the worst example of structural use of composites I have ever seen
 and I am
 not surprised by the current pictures of rescue crews recovering the
 complete Vertical fin and rudder assembly at some distance from the
 crash
 site.

 The Airbus line has a history of both multiple rudder losses and a
 vertical
 fin and rudder separation from the airframe as was the case in NY
 with AA.

 As an old non-radar equipped DC4 pilot who flew through many a
 thunderstorm
 in Africa along the equator, I am quite familiar with their
 ferocity.  It is not
 difficult to understand how such a storm might have stressed an
 aircraft
 structure to failure at its weakest point, and especially so in the
 presence of
 instrumentation problems.

 I replied with this:

 "I'm watching very carefully the orchestration of the inquiry by
 French
 officials and Airbus. I think I can smell a concerted effort to steer
 discussion away from structural issues and onto sensors, etc.  Now
Air
 France, at the behest of their pilots' union, is replacing all the
 air data
 sensors on the Airbus fleet, which creates a distraction and shifts
 the
 media's focus away from the real problem.

 It's difficult to delve into the structural issue without wading
 into the
 Boeing vs. Airbus swamp, where any observation is instantly tainted
 by its
 origin. Americans noting any Airbus structural issues (A380 early
 failure
 of wing in static test; loss of vertical surfaces in Canadian fleet
 prior to
 AA A300, e.g.) will be attacked by the other side as partisan,
 biased, etc. "

 His follow-up:

 One gets a really unique insight into structural issues when one has
 first-hand experience in the dismantling process.

 I am an A&P, FEJ and an ATP with 7000 flight hours and I was
 absolutely
 stunned, flabbergasted when I realized that the majority of internal
 airframe structural supports on the A 310 which appear to be
 aluminum are
 actually rolled composite material with aluminum rod ends. They
 shattered.

 Three years ago we had a storm come through, with gusts up to 60-70
 kts.,
 catching several A320s tied down on the line, out in the open.

 The A320 elevators and rudder hinges whose actuators had been
 removed shattered and the rudder and elevators came off.

 Upon closer inspection I realized that not only were the rear spars
 composite but so were the hinges.  While Boeing also uses composite
 material in its airfoil structures, the actual attach fittings for
 the elevators,
 rudder, vertical and horizontal stabilizers are all of machined
 aluminum."
 -----------------(end of narrative)---------------


I remember a discussion, several years ago about delamination of
composites materials (AA Airbus accident, New York).

This seems to be adding more fuel to the fire.

As for me, I will avoid flying in these planes until the whole smoke
settles down.


Alfonso

My theory is the water gets in a de-lamination crack and greatly expands
when it freezes at high altitude enlarging the length of the crack until
it fails. This is a process that converts solid rock mountains to sand
over time.

Paul Lamar


Any structure can be damaged by mishandling - leaving control surfaces
disconnected from their actuation hardware.  Mishandling means
different things to different designs and materials.  I'm not riding
in to the rescue on the side of Airbus - I think they may have a real
problem - but I think it's also not valid to say "You can't build a
safe composite hinge (because Boeing doesn't choose to)."

BTW, B737's have a history of rudder problems too - a control
hydraulics issue.  They have lost a few airplanes to this issue.  They
put out a fix for it, lost another airplane, and then put out another
fix - if I recall the events correctly.  I still like B737's better
than A320 even so.

Paul, you're idea is quite possibly correct, though that seems like a
fairly obvious thing to test for.  Might not be able to test on the
line for it very easily, but the lab should be able to see it.


Regards,

Matt-