reinforced composite materials. The directive stems from a March 6 in-flight incident in which a Canadian charter A310 lost part of its rudder. The Air Transat flight from Cuba to Quebec City with 270 people aboard returned safely to Cuba. Canadian authorities are investigating. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is also monitoring the investigation. The Canadian incident focused new attention on the tail and rudder system of the A300 family. Rudders are attached to the tail fin and move back and forth to help with lateral steering usually on the ground or to counter crosswinds during landing. Rudders were replaced on some Airbus aircraft in the early 1990s. In November 2001, an American A300-600 crashed in New York after its tail fin snapped off, killing 265 people. U.S. crash investigators said the co-pilot's excessive rudder use likely caused the fin failure but also cited the sensitivity of the rudder system and crew training at American. U.S. investigators found no fault in that crash with construction of the composite tail fin after initial speculation focused strongly on that possibility. --SP 2227 Local Time 1927 GMT
