.
The rattling noise is first heard 107 seconds into the tape. Seven seconds later, Capt. Edward States makes a comment about possibly encountering wake turbulence from a Japan Airlines jumbo jet that had just taken off. Seven seconds after that, another rattling sound is heard.
Four seconds later, the co-pilot calls for maximum power. And three seconds after that, several comments indicate the pilots had lost control. The recording stops 17 seconds later.
Black said the data will continue to be examined and will be synchronized with information from radar and the flight data recorder, assuming it can be extracted.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/656340_asp.htm

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The loss of that tail could very well have triggered the events of the loss of engines and wings especially during take off. The tail may very well have started to come apart when the plane was making the turn shortly after clearing the Kennedy airport runway.

Still, whenever I think about it, it leads me to 'bolts' and 'fatigue' spots.

A friend and once neighbor of ours took many trips to Germany and I've thought of her lately. She told us that on one of those trips, in the late 70s, she encountered some turbulance... quite a few 'pockets' of turbulence throughout the flight. When the plane landed, it didn't go to the terminal, but stopped right after making it's usual taxi turn. All passengers were told to exit the plane via ladder. After she made her walk towards the terminal building, she turned around and saw that a large part, about 1/3rd of the airplane's tail tip had come off. Thank goodness the rest of the plane stayed intact and was able to finish the flight, etc. The plane was a 747 btw

Marcia