Union accuses Airbus of failing to disclose tail failure problem

Airline Industry Information, Oct 12, 2004

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

The Allied Pilots Association has accused European aircraft manufacturer Airbus of knowing that the tail on its A300-600 aircraft was subject to failure before an American Airlines flight crashed in New York in 2001.

The union said that it has obtained a memo from 1997 written by an Airbus engineer that shows that Airbus knew that the tail was likely to fail due the stresses caused by moving the rudder back and forth and that people have now died because Airbus did not disclose the information.

A spokesperson for Airbus said that the union has "shopped" the memo, which was obtained through crash-related court files, to the media. The results of the National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the crash are set to be released before the end of October 2004 and are expected to blame the crash on mistakes by the pilot, reports the Dallas Morning News.

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