Seeks Action
Nine years after the
in-flight explosion and destruction of TWA flight 800, the NTSB is
accusing the FAA of doing little to prevent similar events in the
future. All 230 persons on board the aircraft perished when the 747
exploded and fell into the ocean shortly after takeoff on July 17,
1996.
The National Transportation Safety Board has asked the Federal
Aviation Administration to describe any short-term actions it is
contemplating in response to an urgent NTSB safety recommendation
aimed at avoiding airliner fuel tank explosions similar to the one
that downed TWA flight 800, which crashed nine years ago this
Sunday. The Board sent a letter to FAA Administrator Marion C.
Blakey yesterday.
In announcing the Board's action, Acting Chairman Mark V.
Rosenker noted that the FAA had achieved significant success in
eliminating potential ignition sources in a number of aircraft
models. "However, it is disappointing 9 years after the tragedy of
flight 800 that fuel tanks are as flammable today as they were in
1996, and particularly disheartening that the FAA has done almost
nothing on this urgent recommendation."
TWA flight 800 crashed minutes after takeoff from New York's
John F. Kennedy Airport on a flight to Paris. All 230 persons
aboard the plane died in the accident. The Board determined that
the accident was caused by an explosion of the center wing fuel
tank (CWT), resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air
mixture in the tank.
Five months after the crash, in December 1996, the NTSB issued
two safety recommendations aimed at reducing flammable fuel/air
mixtures on airliners. One recommended short-term actions in
airplane operations that could immediately reduce the levels of
these flammable mixtures, while the other called for design changes
that would understandably take years to implement. Both
recommendations were placed on the Board's Most Wanted list of
Safety Improvements the following year.
Five years after the TWA crash, the NTSB participated in the
investigation of another center wing tank explosion, this time of a
Thai Airways 737-400 in Bangkok, Thailand in March 2001.
The airplane, which was sitting on the ground at the time, was
completely destroyed, and a flight attendant was fatally injured.
Again, the presence of flammable fuel/air mixtures in the center
wing tank was responsible for the accident.
There has been little
action by the FAA in response to the Board's short-term
recommendation. In 2000, the FAA concluded that operational changes
that used ground-conditioned air instead of running the airplane's
on-board air conditioning system while on the ground could reduce
flammable fuel/air mixtures in center wing tanks, and requested its
inspectors to encourage airlines to follow this procedure. However,
the FAA did not require airlines to comply with this procedure.
At the Safety Board's request, FAA staff surveyed airlines last
year to determine whether the use of ground-conditioned air had
changed within the previous 5 to 7 years. The FAA found that only
one airline had changed procedures to use ground conditioned air on
all of its flights. It further found that 94 percent of daily
airline flights do not exclusively use ground-conditioned air.
"Fuel tank explosions are rare events," Acting Chairman Rosenker
said, "but as we learned in Thailand, TWA800 was not an isolated
case. I urge the FAA to act quickly on our urgent recommendation to
implement airline operational actions, including requiring ground
conditioned air.
"Furthermore, I would remind everyone that we are still awaiting
issuance by the FAA of a proposed rule announced 17 months ago that
would require inerting of airliner fuel tanks. It is time for the
FAA and its parent agency, the Department of Transportation, to
issue this proposal as soon as possible.
"I hope the Safety Board won't be asking these same questions as
we approach the 10th anniversary of this tragedy."
The Board will use the information submitted by the FAA when it
reviews and evaluates the FAA's activities associated with these
and other recommendations on its Most Wanted List at a meeting
later this year.