Airbus Rudders

Safety officials are calling for tough new checks on the rudders on one of the worlds most popular airliners.

The move comes after two near disasters involving damage to rudders on the european built Airbus A300. Nearly 500 variations of the wide bodied A300 are in service and they carry many British Families on European holidays.

Experts from Canada’s Air Transportation Safety Board have found that the carbon fibre layers which form the rudder can peel apart if hydraulic fluid leaks from control lines.

They want European and U.S safety agencies urgently to introduce new inspection rules because the damage is undetectable from the outside.

In March last year a Canadian flight carrying 261 passengers managed to land safely after its rudder fell off at 35,000ft. Last November the rudder of another A300 was damaged during maitenance work and a detailed inspection found its inner layers peeling apart.

In a Parralel move U.S. Pilots are demanding a new inquiry into the deaths of 265 people when the tail of an A300 fell off over New York in 2001. They reject the finding of Pilot Error.

The plane makers Airbus industries have confirmed the hydraulic fluid discovery.

TAKEN FROM: http://www.dailymail.co.uk