Maneuvering speed is something fledgling airplane pilots learn about early in their training. It’s one of the more important details to know about any airplane because it has implications for structural integrity. It’s also relevant to operating in turbulence and performing maneuvers, although its value isn’t on an airspeed indicator, mainly because it varies with weight.
Maneuvering speed was taught to many pilots as the speed above which rapid, full control movements must not be made. The implication—and one of the lessons many pilots drew—is that rapid, full control movements could be made below that weight-adjusted speed. Then came American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 that crashed shortly after departing New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001, killing all 260 aboard and five on the ground.
