12 years after air tragedy, new rules on fuel tanks

Precisely 12 years ago today, TWA Flight 800, flying from New York to Paris, blew up in midair off the coast of Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard. Terrorism was the initial suspicion.
Terrorism was the initial suspicion. But not long after, federal safety investigators found the likely cause - an explosion of the center fuel tank - and recommended several ways to make the tanks less vulnerable to similar blasts.
Inexcusably, it took until Wednesday for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to order manufacturers and airlines to upgrade their fuel tanks to reduce the chance of a repeat of the 1996 tragedy. During the lag, two foreign commercial airline explosions, one in Thailand and one in India, were traced to their fuel tanks.
The problem of clearing dangerous vapors from fuel tanks required new technology. In 2002, an ingenious FAA scientist found that a relatively inexpensive device could do the trick, and airplane manufacturer Boeing ran with that idea, testing the device in real-world conditions. That led to Wednesday's new safety requirement, though it took another six years.
The tank upgrades and operations - expected to cost $1 billion over the next 35 years - come as airlines are struggling to survive sky-high jet fuel prices. Had they been ordered sooner, the airlines would have been in better position to pay for them.
20/07/08 US Today/Kurdish Globe, Iraq

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Categories: Foreign Jul 2008, Safety Jul 2008