NTSB to investigate apparent 727 fuel tank explosion at Bangalore

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said today it is sending a team of investigators to Bangalore, India, after the apparent explosion of a wing fuel tank on a Boeing 727.
The incident occurred May 4 and involved a Transmile Airlines 727-200. The plane was being repositioned on the ground when the fuel tank in the left wing apparently exploded, the NTSB said. No one was injured.
Although the jet was on the ground and there were no passengers aboard, the incident raised fresh questions and concerns about a safety issue that has been at the forefront of the commercial aviation industry since the center fuel tank exploded on a TWA 747 shortly after it took off from Kennedy airport in New York on July 17, 1996. All 230 people on the jumbo jet died. "The tragic TWA 800 accident in 1996 highlighted the vulnerability of transport aircraft fuel tanks," NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said.
24/05/06 James Wallace/Seattle Post Intelligencer, US

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