[dread78645]

I feel better knowing that, occasionally, you should expect the rudder to snap off and fall from the aircraft.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sounds like a spontaneously combusting center fuel tank to me. Certainly could not have been a shoe bomber. </sarcasm>

[sam_paine]

The report on Flight 587 in Vanity Fair's September issue...

OMG!!! Puhleeeeaze!!!

"Highlights for Kids" also did an in depth expose on High-Tc YBCO superconductors....

[hflynn]

According to the report, the plane that crashed in Belle Harbor Nov. 12, killing 286 people, had experienced problems previously.

In 1994, ceiling baggage compartments were jolted in flight and fell on a passenger, the pilot said.

I fail to see the equivalency between ceiling baggage compartments jolted in flight falling on a passenger and a plane falling apart in flight, crashing and killing 286 people. I think the fact that I have at least 2 brain cells accounts for my skepticism.

I guess after the TWA 800 coverup the NTSB has concluded the American public is so dumbed downed that elaborate coverups are no longer necessary.

[mewzilla]

Well, I guess this is a little more imaginative than the Flying Frozen Butterball Hypothesis.

[Anteater_4]

According to a retired transcontinental AA pilot I met once, the Flt. 587 Airbus was manufactured with a structural flaw in the tail assembly ( the tail is built separately from the fuselage ). Upon noticing this particular defect, rather than scraping the tail, a solution was devised. A metal splint was installed in the composite material to reinforce and prevent the concentrated stresses from worsening the flaw.

The solution worked great for some 13 or 14 years until structural failure of the tail occurred.

The story I'm relating is purely third-hand hearsay, so I have no way of verifying this account with other sources.