POSSIBLE RUDDER ISSUE IN AIR FRANCE 447 - AT 9:22 A.M. ET:

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- A burst of last-minute automatic messages sent by Air France Flight 447 includes one about a problem with a rudder safety device but that does not explain what sent the jet plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation expert says.

The industry official, who has knowledge of the Air France investigation, told The Associated Press that a transcript of the messages posted on the Web site EuroCockpit is authentic but inconclusive.

COMMENT:  We continue to follow this story because of the mystery involving the cause of the crash, and the possibility, distant at this point, of terrorism.  The rudder has been a periodic issue on Airbus aircraft.  You may remember that, on November 12, 2001, two months after the 9-11 attacks, an American Airlines Airbus crashed just after takeoff in Queens, New York.  The National Transportation Safety Board, in its report on the accident, said this:

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 A300-600 rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program.

We'll continue to follow this carefully unless and until terrorism is absolutely ruled out.

June 14, 2009