Posted on 07/14/2006 3:47:47 PM PDT by Hal1950
(CNN) -- Ten years after the explosion of TWA Flight 800, the very problem that led to the disaster still has not been fully fixed -- despite a warning from the Federal Aviation Administration that it is "virtually certain to occur" again without additional safeguards.
In fact, the FAA predicts that without its recommended safety changes four more TWA-type disasters are likely to happen over the next 50 years.
While the FAA has not yet made a final decision, Boeing, which has built nearly three-fourths of the jetliners in use around the world, told CNN it will install a nitrogen safety system on its new planes -- with or without an FAA mandate -- because it is "the right thing to do."
TWA 800 exploded on July 17, 1996, shortly after takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on a flight bound for Paris, killing all 230 people aboard. After an exhaustive investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the Boeing 747 was the victim of a center fuel tank explosion, most likely caused by a spark in its vapor-filled center tank.
In the years since TWA 800, engineers at the FAA have been able to adapt the nitrogen safety systems used on military planes for a practical application in passenger jets. The new system is light enough and small enough that the FAA says it should now be mandatory.
Without the new generation nitrogen system -- or some other method to reduce the flammability of vapors in fuel tanks -- the FAA predicts that four more air disasters like TWA are likely over the next 50 years and that there is "a nearly 40 percent probability of five or more accidents."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Why would Boeing pay to have its product declared defective? They'd have been a lot better off if it had been a missile.
Please post your reference source on that.
You're right. My memory is playing tricks on me.
It wasn't Boeing that started pouring money into the Clinton/Gore campaign. It was the airlines. Al Gore had announced a laundry list of security measures that the airlines vehemently opposed over worries of long delays which would result in lost revenue.
After the airlines started contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to Clinton/Gore, the NTSB concocted that preposterous fuel cell story.
Personally, I believe it was a Richard Reid style shoe-bomber that blew that plane up.
In any case, the seeds of 911 may very well have been planted by Clinton's machiavellian response to Flight 800.
Only one thing makes me still unsettled on this issue.
No wacko group ever claimed they did it. This is SOP for them. What good would it be shooting the thing down if they couldn't claim responsibility.
Actually, yes. They did. From Swordmaker..
"In the absence of explanations, theories abounded. One focused on a fax sent Wednesday to an Arabic language newspaper in Beirut warning of an attack. State Department and CIA officials confirmed they had received copies of the fax Thursday. The message said "tomorrow morning we will strike the Americans in a way they do not expect and it will be very surprising to them," according to one official. A counterterrorism source familiar with the fax said that it was sent at 11 a.m. New York time Wednesday, more than nine hours before the bombing. But a CIA source said that the agency "does not attach too much significance" to the fax.
"The fax, written in Arabic, ends with the following threat: "The Mujahadeen will respond harshly to the threats of the stupid American president. All will be shocked by the magnitude of the response. The determining of the place and time are in the hands of the Mujahadeen. The invaders must get ready to leave alive or dead; and their rendezvous will be morning, and isn't morning near." U.S. News and World Report magazine, in the July 29, 1996 issue, identified the group who sent the fax as, "The Movement of Islamic Jihad/The Jihad Wing of the Arabian Peninsula." [Editors Note: 8pm Eastern Time in New York is early morning in the Persian Gulf.]"
Newsday.com, July 19, 1996
. . . Senior Iranian sources close to the fundamentalist regime in Tehran claimed this weekend that TWA flight 800 was shot down last month by one of three shoulder-fired Stingers of the type used by Islamic guerrillas during the Afghanistan war. The sources said the missiles arrived in America seven months ago after being shipped from Karachi via Rotterdam and on to the Canadian port of Halifax. They claimed an Egyptian fundamentalist group backed by Iran was responsible for smuggling the weapons across the Canadian border into the United States. The group, the Gama'a al-Islamiya, comprises followers of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric jailed in the United States over the 1993 New York World Trade Center bombing."The Times of London, August 27, 1996
" . . . at least one terrorist has claimed credit for the TWA 800 bombing. World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef told authorities his group is responsible. Yousef's claim has not been made public, but it is in the FBI file.The American Spectator, Sept. 1997
If you can read Arabic, here is the Al Hayat article threatening the attack. It's a PDF.
No evidence of terrorism in TWA crash, U.S. officials say
(CNN) -- President Clinton warned Thursday against speculation into the cause of the fiery Atlantic Ocean crash of a Paris-bound TWA 747 jet minutes after takeoff from New York's JFK International Airport. And members of his administration said there was no immediate indication of terrorist involvement.
"We have no evidence that would indicate the cause of this accident," President Clinton told reporters at the White House late Thursday morning. He asked the public not to jump to conclusions about the cause of the crash.
"Let's wait until we have the evidence," he said during a brief news conference carried live on CNN. Clinton also thanked the hundreds of people involved in the search and rescue effort.
snip
The FBI issued a statement saying the FBI/New York City Police Department Joint Terrorist Task Force would "assume leadership of the investigation" but added the FBI "is not prepared to declare the incident to be terrorist related."
hmph.
I stand corrected. Thanks for the info
I'd never heard anyone claimed responsibilty for it until it was posted a few days ago.
But I know what happens when I try to carry a 4-foot by 8-foot wood panel and the wind hits it wrong. But then, I'm not a slip-stick guy -- nor can I produce cartoons.
You can re-create it though. I bought a cheap styrafoam glider and broke the cockpit off. Threw it as hard as I could and it flipped over on itself.
The rest of your point stands, but, it's Chinook! Just picking nits ;0) Blackbird.
Thanx for the correction.
Indeed it does. I think profits would tank if every commercial airplane had to resemble an AWACS or an F22.
On topic references, for sure. That is a lot of fuss for something that never happened.
One of the biggest problems Americans face is that our leaders think we are stupid. Hmmmm. For the most part, that is probably true.
I can't but perhaps jveritas could spend a moment on it?(sorry to be presumptious)
That's because they're reading the wrong forum. ;)
It would be great to know what it says.
Thank you!
Anytime :)
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