WASHINGTON?The Federal Aviation Administration plans to order U.S. airlines that fly Airbus A300 planes to inspect their fleets, focusing on the tail that sheared off in Monday’s plane crash in New York.

The order was expected to be issued Friday, FAA spokesman William Shumann said.

It would cover 90 of the European-built planes used by American Airlines and three cargo carriers, FedEx and United Parcel Service.

Another FAA spokesman, Les Dorr, said the agency was working out whether the planes would be grounded until they were inspected, how much time the airlines could take to do the required checks, and whether parts of the planes besides the tails would need to be examined.

Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the Transportation Department, applauded the FAA’s action but said the agency should have already ordered the inspections.