Airbus says it can install warning lights on the planes but says there's no way it can design and install equipment to limit movement of the rudder in four years.


3:08PM EST November 19. 2012 - The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered aircraft maker Airbus to update the rudder systems on 215 of its planes because of a fatal 2001 crash, but some industry officials question the remedy, and safety experts wonder why it took so long.
The FAA rule was finalized almost exactly 11 years after the fiery crash of American Airlines flight 587 in Queens, N.Y., on Nov. 12, 2001. The crash occurred soon after take-off from New York's JFK airport, when the Airbus A300-605R's tail came apart. All 260 on the plane were killed, as were five people on the ground.
The National Transportation Safety Board found that the plane's tail fin -- the vertical stabilizer -- tore off because the pilot put too much stress on the rudder by flipping it from side to side as he fishtailed in the wake of another plane. A half-dozen other flights have suffered problems with rudder movement causing high stress on tails, but without catastrophic results.
The board blamed the crash on the pilot's "unnecessary and excessive rudder" movement, which is controlled by foot pedals. But American pilots were trained at the time to use the rudder to deal with wake turbulence, so training changed across the industry in the years after the crash.
Now, the FAA has worked with the counterparts at the European Aviation Safety Agency and Airbus to install a flashing light and sound in the cockpit to warn against excessive rudder movement on A300 and A310 planes.
The FAA estimates the update will cost $72,720 to $107,720 per plane. Another option the FAA approved, which would cost $198,500 per plane, is to install equipment limiting movement of the rudder pedal