I don’t think I’ll be taking any more flights on Airbus planes after another rudder fell off in flight. Air Transat’s flight 961 was at cruising altitude over open ocean when part of the rudder bailed out. After safely guiding the plane back using just engines and wing flaps, the pilot deserves a medal.

Boeing has taken its knocks (and earned most of them, too), but Airbus’s idea of building a plane by committee just begs for this kind of trouble. Maybe we the traveling public are actually better off that most airports can’t handle the huge new A380 airplane.

And avoid the flight paths, too, unless you want to be squashed by a falling rudder.