"Fuel vapors still pose a threat to airlines, say safety officials"

Thursday, July 7, 2005

Fuel vapors still pose a threat to airlines, say safety officials 
BY LESLIE MILLER
The Associated Press

 
WASHINGTON - Nearly nine years after a fuel tank explosion caused the fatal
crash of TWA Flight 800, safety officials say little has been done to reduce
the flammability of vapors in aircraft fuel tanks. 

The Federal Aviation Administration announced in February 2004 that it had
found a filtering system - called fuel inerting - to make fuel vapors less
likely to ignite. The agency said at the time that it would propose in fall
2004 a regulation requiring that such systems be installed on Boeing and
Airbus jetliners.

But no rule has been proposed.

Dan Campbell, National Transportation Safety Board executive director, said
Wednesday that while much more is known about how to prevent fuel vapors
from exploding, little has been done.

"We're not significantly different than we were in '96," Campbell said
during a briefing with reporters.

The Boeing Co. and the FAA disagree. Both point to progress in designing
safer systems, which are based on an FAA prototype, as well as plans to
begin producing them next year.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin said the agency has moved aggressively to
eliminate the factors that can cause jet fuel vapors to explode: sparks or
flames and a deadly combination of concentrated oxygen and fuel.

"Although a rigid formal rulemaking process takes time, we've moved
aggressively to remove both ignition sources and flammability levels,"
Martin said.

Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said aircraft manufacturers are working to
reduce fuel tank explosions even though they're extremely unusual.

"They're getting more and more rare because the industry constantly works on
safety," Verdier said.

Campbell acknowledged that the FAA has reduced sources of ignition that can
cause fuel vapor explosions. The FAA has ordered airlines to make more than
60 changes to eliminate potential ignition sources, such as faulty wiring.

In the past 15 years, there have been three fuel tank explosions: the TWA
accident, resulting in 346 deaths, and two in Asia while the aircraft were
on the ground.

Everyone aboard TWA Flight 800 died when the Boeing 747 crashed off Long
Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, en route to Paris.

The NTSB said a spark in the wiring ignited vapors in the Boeing 747's
partly empty fuel tank. Air-conditioning units underneath the fuel tanks are
believed to have heated the vapors inside the tank - making them more
vulnerable to explosion - during the plane's two-hour delay at New York's
John F. Kennedy International Airport.

FAA researchers developed a system called "fuel tank inerting" that reduces
the oxygen in the fuel tanks, making an explosion much less likely.

"We did not take 'no' for an answer when initial technical reviews said that
fuel inerting systems would be too costly and too heavy," said the FAA's
Martin.


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