Originally Posted by
rydabent
Of course that is BS. A pilot will move the controls to get the response he or she wants. Do you really think that a pilot will say to himself ----gee that is all the rudder I dare to put in------------In the case of the tail breaking off the Airbus airplanes is a combination of CF design not being strong enough, and the fly by wire being programed wrong. On the very light weight Cessna 150s I learned to fly in, in cross wind landings often I used full rudder to keep the plane straight on landing.
It appears that the NTSB disagrees. Quoted from the Executive Summary of the NTSB's report on the accident, which is readily available in PDF format on the Internet:
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by the first officer’s unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs. Contributing to these rudder pedal inputs were characteristics of the Airbus A300-600 rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program.
The "Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program" referenced here appears to be at least part of AA's pilot training curriculum. And in another part of the report, it goes on to indicate that the first officer had a history of being aggressive (a previous aircraft Captain who had flown with the individual as First Officer had referred to it as being "very aggressive") in the use of rudder controls during a similar previous incident while flying another type of aircraft. The Captain of that flight also indicated he regarded the Flight Officer's actions as excessive in that case; however, also indicated he felt that this behavior was "our of character". (This previous behavior on the part of AA 587's late Flight Officer is discussed on p. 12-13 of the report.) The Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program and its issues are discussed in detail later in the report.
I have no axe to grind here, and I'm not a pilot. But yeah - per the NTSB, there apparently were issues with the Flight Officer's behavior that contributed to the crash. There also appear to have been issues with the training he received and with the aircraft's rudder system design as well.