WASHINGTON, March 16: Airlines will have to check the tails of certain Airbus planes that have made violent manoeuvres after an American Airlines crash in New York last year when the vertical tail section broke away, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday.

The Flight 587 crash, in which 265 people died, and damage recently found in another American Airlines plane, has focused attention on the bonding of the carbon-reinforced composite tail fin to the metal fuselage.

An FAA spokesman said voluntary ultrasound tests on the tails of six other aircraft of the European consortium Airbus were underway in the United States and Europe. The planes were identified as having gone through in-flight problems that placed sideways loads on their tails.

The FAA will also soon publish orders requiring US operators of Airbus A300-600 and A310 aircraft to make reports and tail inspections after in-flight problems, depending on the amount of force experienced during turbulence, loss of control or other incidents.

There are approximately 135 A300-600 and A310 aircraft in the US fleet. American, which has 34 A300s, is the only US passenger carrier that operates those planes.

Airbus said the inspections were in line with its recommendations. —Reuters