American Airlines jet reports rudder problems over Peru

By Charles Feldman
CNN

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- An American Airlines Airbus jetliner departing Lima, Peru, Wednesday evening experienced severe rudder problems during takeoff, forcing it to return to the airport, CNN learned Friday.

The aircraft, an Airbus A300-600, is the same model aircraft as American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in New York on November 12, killing all 260 people on the plane and five people on the ground in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens.

Investigators trying to determine the cause of that crash are looking at whether a structural defect in the Airbus' tail section -- which includes the rudder -- may have been a contributing factor.

In Wednesday's incident in Peru, the pilots reported "fish tailing" soon after takeoff.

An aviation source told CNN the aircraft experienced severe rudder fluctuations. A preliminary NTSB report said the plane landed safely and its flight recorders have been pulled for further investigation.

CNN has previously reported on yet another incident involving an American Airlines Airbus A300-600. That plane, on a flight from Colombia to Miami, Florida in 1999, had to abort its final approach after the pilots experienced what they called severe rudder deflection problems.

NTSB spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi, reached late Friday, said she had no information on any incident in Peru and would not know anything until Monday.

American Airlines told CNN the plane remains in Peru but the flight recorders have been sent to the NTSB in Washington. An airline spokesman said no previous problems with the jet had been reported.

After the crash of Flight 587 the FAA ordered airlines flying the A300-600 to visually examine the tail sections for signs of possible stress cracks. But critics said that more sophisticated tests are needed to detect any problems with the vertical fin and rudder which, on the Airbus, are made of composite plastic materials and not metal.