Irvine Company’s Rudder Device Is Tested for Role in USAir Crash

IRVINE —  Federal air safety investigators came to an Irvine aerospace company Wednesday to begin testing a rudder control mechanism to see whether it might have played a role in the Sept. 8 crash of USAir Flight 427.

The rudder and the mechanism that controls it were being investigated because the Boeing 737 made a wild left turn as it approached the Pittsburgh airport. The rudder is the portion that moves left or right on a plane’s tail to make it turn.

The tests at Parker Bertea Aerospace, which manufactured the mechanism, was just one of several simultaneous probes to find possible causes of the crash that killed all 132 people aboard.

“We are testing all the control surfaces of that aircraft,” said Ted Lopatkiewicz, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. “It’s something you have to examine because of the nature of the accident. You have to examine anything that might indicate a (cause of) the loss.”

Separate teams were also investigating other possible causes of the crash, such as weather conditions and errors by the crew.

The rudder’s movements are controlled by the mechanism known as an actuator--a device about the size of two car batteries placed end to end that hydraulically turns the rudder. Parker Bertea has made thousands of them over the years in factories in Irvine and Ogden, Utah, including most of the ones used in commercial jetliners, spokeswoman Cheryl Morosco said.

The federal safety testing was being conducted at Parker Bertea’s customer support facility, she said, where used equipment is often brought for evaluation. The company, a division of Parker Hannifin Corp. in Cleveland, has several facilities in Orange County and about 1,800 employees here.

Last week, Parker Hannifin said it had paid a total of $7.8 million to settle a federal claim that Parker Bertea overcharged the government on 70 contracts in the 1980s. The company said in a statement that it voluntarily reported the overcharging back in 1987 when it first came to light in an audit and that a subsequent federal review found additional overcharging.