1.   Blakey also said that American Airlines agreed Wednesday to form a special team to inspect the vertical stabilizer and the rudder on each aircraft in its fleet.

2.   Both units are located in the tail, but not in the vertical stabilizer or its trailing component, the rudder panel.

3.   A vertical stabilizer with a rudder would be placed behind the compartment.

4.   He and other aviation experts said they cannot recall another airliner crash in which the vertical stabilizer came off in flight.

5.   In place of a tail they show only two tiny vertical stabilizers mounted on the outside trailing edges.

6.   Investigators said the metal fittings and bolts held through the crash, but the vertical stabilizer snapped off on a line that runs across the carbon loops.

7.   Investigators also are trying to determine why the vertical stabilizer and rudder broke off just before the crash.

8.   Mechanics had replaced sleeves and pins that attached the vertical stabilizer to the fuselage.

9.   The pilots struggled for control, and soon the Airbus lost its vertical stabilizer and its trailing component, the rudder panel.

10.   The vertical stabilizer snapped off along a line running just above the carbon attachment loops.