ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 14, 1996 TAG: 9612160060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: EAST HAMPTON, N.Y.
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE FAA WAS URGED to require tanks to be designed so they will not contain any explosive fuel-air mixture, and to consider adding insulation between fuel tanks and heat-generating equipment.
Federal safety officials on Friday urgently asked the Federal Aviation Administration to protect fuel tanks in the nation's airliners from heat sources that could touch off the kind of explosion that brought down TWA Flight 800.
The damage on airplane parts recovered from the ocean floor and carefully reconstructed ``are consistent with an explosion originating within the tank,'' the National Transportation Safety Board said in a letter to the FAA.
Investigators have been unable to figure out what sparked the catastrophic explosion inside the tank, but leading theories include static electricity, faulty wiring or a spark from the center tank's fuel pump.
Despite the fact that no conclusions have been reached in the July 17 explosion that killed 230 people, ``NTSB investigators believe there are potential safety improvements that can be made,'' the letter said.
The NTSB urgently recommended that the FAA require tanks to be designed so they will not contain any explosive fuel-air mixtures, and to consider adding insulation between the fuel tanks and heat-generating equipment such as air conditioners.
It also said operational procedures should be modified to reduce the possibility of an explosion - for example, turning the air conditioners off while planes wait for takeoff, filling center tanks with cooler fuel from underground tanks, and keeping enough fuel in the tanks to prevent volatile vapors from accumulating. Also, it said the FAA should require probes in the tanks.
The NTSB noted that the military prevents the risk of fuel tank ignition by inserting nitrogen into the tanks to create ``an oxygen-deficient fuel-air mixture that will not ignite.''
However, the NTSB said it recognizes that developing and installing the nitrogen systems on commercial airliners would be ``expensive and may be impractical.''
The FAA and Boeing Co. said it would carefully review the recommendations, which apply to all aircraft with similar fuel tank configurations.
``FAA takes the board's recommendations very seriously, and it will respond to today's proposals in a timely fashion,'' the agency said, noting that it has ``responded positively'' to 90 percent of the NTSB's urgent recommendations.
In a statement from its headquarters in Seattle, Boeing said its ``position where safety is concerned is to err on the side of caution. We will take action and support any directives from the FAA.''
``Some of the NTSB recommendations may involve issues with far-reaching effects for the entire aviation industry,'' Boeing added. ``It is imperative that each recommendation be thoroughly reviewed, analyzed and evaluated by all interested parties before any changes are implemented so we ensure that appropriate safety measures are initiated.''
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB