Focus
The focus of this theory will be on the breakup of the Airbus A300 rudder on American Airline Flight 587 that crashed on November 12, 2001. While the separation of the vertical stabilizer is most likely connected to the separation of the rudder I will leave that for discussion at a later date.

Starting Point
The last known reliable rudder position according to the NTSBís Safety Recommendation is 9.5 starboard. I used this as my starting point to interpret what can be seen in the photographs available. I used the 9.5 starboard as the position of the rudder at the start of the breakup.

Thesis I believe the rudder failed initially at the top and then broke sequentially top down at or near the hinge attachment points.

Reasoning
The following information outlines how I think the rudder broke into the pieces seen in the photographs. I began by examining the photos of the hinges and their attachment points.

You can view the html version of this theory by clicking here to go first to the Hinge # 7 page. It begins there as the theory posits that this was probably the first piece to separate.

Alternatively, you can download the 2MB pdf file which offers higher resolution images and is a slightly easier read than the html version.

Lastly, you can use the rudder map below to navigate through the different pages based on Hinge numbers.

(You will need Acrobat Reader version 4 or later to read the pdf file. Click here or the Acrobat icon above to get the latest version for your computer and operating system)

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