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Technology Stocks : Boeing keeps setting new highs! When will it split? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve dietrich who wrote (2164)	3/11/1999 10:30:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 3764

U.S. board to consider Boeing 737 rudder changes --'''':< By Tim Dobbyn WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The National Transportation Safety Board may recommend extensive and potentially costly changes to the rudder system in the world's most widely used aircraft, the Boeing 737, sources said on Wednesday. The NTSB meets later this month on a final report into 1994's US Airways crash near Pittsburgh. Sources familiar with the report said it included discussion of a major revision of the hydraulic mechanism controlling the 737's rudder, which is a prime suspect in two major crashes and numerous incidents. The NTSB can only make recommendations, but if acted on by the Federal Aviation Administration the modifications could present airlines with a huge repair bill for the jetliner, which is the most widely used in the world. A report in Wednesday's edition of the Wall Street Journal said the cost was estimated at $60 million to $100 million for U.S. carriers alone. An NTSB spokesman declined to comment on any aspect of the draft report. An FAA spokeswoman also declined to comment saying, "We have not seen it." But sources told Reuters the staff draft discussed splitting the rudder, which is the large vertical fin on the tail, into two sections. Each would have its own set of hydraulic controls, so that a pilot could retain control of the aircraft even if one half of the rudder malfunctioned. The NTSB's final report later this month concerns one of the deadliest crashes linked to possible rudder problems. US Air Flight 427 was about to land at Pittsburgh International Airport on Sept. 8, 1994, when it rolled sharply and dived into the ground killing all 132 people on board. The rudder is also suspected in the 1991 crash of United Airlines Flight 585 near Colorado Springs, Colorado, that killed all 25 people on board. An investigation into that crash continues. Some changes have already been made to the rudder mechanism and many flight crews have been trained in recovery techniques, but incidents still occur in which the rudder is suspected. Most recently a US Airways Metrojet traveling from Orlando, Florida, to Hartford, Connecticut, experienced an unintended rudder movement on Feb. 23 while at cruising altitude. The flight diverted safely to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The NTSB is investigating that event. A Boeing Co. spokesman said prudent steps had been taken to improve safety in the absence of definitive evidence blaming either the airplane or the flight crew for the accidents in which rudder problems are suspected. "Those steps include training pilots in upset recovery and changes in the rudder mechanism that we recommended to the FAA and the agency has mandated," said Boeing's Tim Neale. The NTSB is due to meet on March 23 in Springfield, Virginia, on the USAir Flight 427 crash.