Washington ? U.S. airlines will be ordered to inspect the rudders of certain Airbus jets following an incident in which most of the rudder fell off an A310 in flight, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.

The FAA directive, to be issued Monday, affects A310s and A300-600s. American Airlines and FedEx, the only U.S. airlines that fly those models, have a combined 112 of those planes.

A plane operated by Canadian-based Air Transat lost nearly all of the rudder — the vertical moving part at the back of the tail fin — soon after leaving Cuba for Quebec on March 6. The pilot was able to control the aircraft and returned to Varadero, Cuba. None of the 270 passengers and crew was injured.

“No one knows for sure what really happened, but we feel this is a prudent measure,” FAA spokesman Les Dorr said of the order. “The basic idea is to get somebody up looking at the rudder to see if there are any problems that can be detected visually or with the tap test.”

A tap test is a way to inspect parts by tapping a piece of metal or a coin against the surface while listening for dull spots. Bill Waldock, an aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, says it’s an extremely time-consuming process.

The FAA directive follows a similar order by French civil aviation authorities on March 18. European aircraft maker Airbus SAS also asked airlines to inspect the planes last week out of what it called “an abundance of caution.”