A300 HAD VERTICAL CFRP COMPOSITES FIN PROBLEM BEFORE FLIGHT 587.

May 27, 2003 - An Airbus jet of the same model experienced similar tail problems in 1997 to those of American Flight 587 in November 2001. Airbus officials said they did not know until last year's investigation of AA587 that pressures on the earlier flight, AA903, were strong enough to have broken off the plane's tail as it neared West Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1997.

Similarly to the AA587 incident, pilots of AA903 used the rudder to try to direct the plane, pitching and yawing for about 34 seconds.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the pilots failed to maintain an adequate speed. The NTSB took a new look at Flight 903 following the November 2001 crash of Flight 587, shortly after the Airbus A300-600 took off from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. That plane lost its CFRP composite vertical fin, leading to the deaths of all 260 people on board and five on the ground.

An Airbus engineering analysis suggested in 1997 that the tail on Flight 903 could have been subjected to strong forces and recommended that it be inspected. But such concerns were never expressed to the NTSB. Airbus was brought into the investigation later in 1997, but by the time the company had enough data to calculate ...