FAA orders installation of new rudders

THE Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken its re-evaluation of airline safety one step further and after having requested US carriers to install safer seats ( as mentioned in TNN on Tuesday October 8), has now ordered these carriers to replace the rudder control systems on their Boeing 737s. Under this new rule, carriers have six years to install new rudder control systems. The FAA has apparently estimated that 2 000 aircraft in the United States must be refitted at a staggering cost of $364m. News reports have said that problems with aircraft rudders are believed to have caused two fatal US air crashes in the past – the 1994 crash near Pittsburgh and the 1991 crash at Colorado Springs. Since these crashes, the FAA has ordered numerous safety improvements to the rudders which, according to Doug Webb , a Boeing spokesman, will give pilots more ways to control the rudder, safeguarding against accidents. Les Dorr, spokesman for the FAA, has been quoted saying that the new rudder system – which will be replacing the old rudders on US aircraft – is “as safe as it can be made with the existing system”. (Heather Ruddock)