Airbus, American blame each other for 2001 crash = = = = Wednesday March 3, 6:49 PM EST = By John Crawley WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - American Airlines and aircraft maker Airb= us (EAD) blamed each other on Wednesday for the second-worst air disaster= in U.S. history - a 2001 crash that killed 265 people in New York. American (AMR) blamed the Nov. 12, 2001, crash on the plane's flight cont= rol system, while Airbus said the pilot was improperly trained. Documents submitted by each company to the National Transportation Safety= Board signaled that the government is close to finishing one of its most= complex air crash investigations. It was also the agency's first probe i= nvolving the European-based Airbus. The submissions also crystallize arguments the companies have been making= piecemeal and in private since the Airbus A300-600 lost its tail fin ove= r New York and plunged into a residential neighborhood near John F. Kenne= dy airport. = All 260 people on the American Airlines flight, bound for the Dominican R= epublic, and five on the ground were killed. The crash shook an already-t= raumatized New York City just two months after hijacked airliners slammed= into the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attacks. The American Airlines crash was the first time anyone could recall a tail= fin and rudder snapping off a commercial plane, creating a mystery that = has tested the most advanced theories on the effects of turbulence and ae= rodynamics on aircraft construction. American said the design of the flight control system was unique and incl= uded an "unexpectedly sensitive" rudder, which caused co-pilot Sten Molin= to lose control of the wide-body aircraft shortly after take off. "What the pilots of Flight 587 did not know was that the rudder controls = on the A300-600 become increasingly sensitive as airspeed increases," Ame= rican said. Airbus blamed the crash on what it called "aggressive" rudder training by= American, which it said led Molin to inadvertently mishandle the plane w= hen he encountered turbulence from the wake of a bigger aircraft flying a= head. "The (co-pilot) did exactly as he was trained to do with predictable fata= l consequences," Airbus said. American said it has found no connection between the airline's training a= nd the crash. Ted Lopatkiewicz, a safety board spokesman, said the American and Airbus = conclusions on the crash would be considered by investigators. "But these= are opinions, not factual reports." = =A92004 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS