FAA Panel to Study Aircraft Fuel-Tank Safety

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration formed a technical group Wednesday to report within six months on ways to prevent aircraft fuel-tank explosions, saying the agency has concluded that “improvements can be made that will greatly reduce, if not eliminate” explosions such as the one that brought down TWA Flight 800 last year.

However, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey rejected all the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations for short-term actions to reduce possible explosions in Boeing 747 center tanks, including putting in colder fuel just before takeoff.

The safety board investigated the crash of the Paris-bound plane that killed 230 people. The safety board can only recommend new safety actions to the FAA.

The board has determined that the center fuel tank exploded, bringing down the plane. The cause of ignition remains a mystery, and official sources have said it likely will remain a mystery after upcoming hearings. However, the board on Dec. 13, 1996, recommended that action be taken to prevent explosive mixtures from forming in the tank.

Garvey, in a letter Wednesday to safety board Chairman Jim Hall, essentially said there is no quick fix to the problem, but a long-term solution is possible. This is a change in position for the FAA, which in the past has said the only way to prevent tank explosions is to be certain there is no possible ignition source inside the tank.