*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, USA - August 8, 2009: The Federal Aviation Administration does not issue airworthiness (ADs) directives lightly
. The idea is to make sure airplanes don’t crash, or—in this particular case—blow up.
In this instance, the object of FAA’s attention is the ubiquitous Boeing 767.
In its just-released AD, FAA wants to “prevent an overheat condition outside the center [fuel] tank fuel pump explosion resistance area,” of the twin-engine widebody. FAA says in the AD that the area “is open to the pump inlet, which could cause an ignition source for the fuel vapors in the fuel tank and result in fuel tank explosions and consequent loss of the airplane.” To correct the problem, FAA is mandating that airlines install an automatic shutoff system for the auxiliary fuel tank/override jettison fuel pumps on all Boeing 767s.
That means this airworthiness directive takes in a lot of airplanes. FAA estimates the AD encompasses 414 Boeing 767s registered here in the United States. Among the airlines with significant 767 fleets: American, Delta, Continental, United, and US Airways – virtually all the country’s so-called “legacy” mainline, hub-and-spoke airlines. The cost to solve the problem according to FAA: as much as $4,655,016.
The airworthiness directive also calls on carriers to revise the 767’s flight manual “to advise the flight crew of certain operating restrictions for airplanes equipped with an automatic auxiliary fuel pump shutoff control.” On certain aircraft, the AD mandates that a placard be installed in the cockpit “to alert the crew of certain fuel usage restrictions.”
Some context: regulators and airlines have taken fuel tank issues very seriously since the July 17, 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. The Boeing 747-131 was en route from New York Kennedy to Paris Charles de Gaulle when it exploded in the heavens off Long Island on a hot summer’s night. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the Probable Cause for the crash that claimed all 230 souls-on-board was “a fuel/air explosion in the airplane’s center wing fuel tank.”
While NTSB couldn’t determine the specific ignition source “with certainty,” the Safety Board concluded the most likely spark came from “a short circuit outside of the [center wing tank] that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication system.”
Much speculation surrounded the accident, with Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy’s former press secretary, contending that the aircraft was shot brought down by a U.S. Navy missile.
. The idea is to make sure airplanes don’t crash, or—in this particular case—blow up.
In this instance, the object of FAA’s attention is the ubiquitous Boeing 767.
In its just-released AD, FAA wants to “prevent an overheat condition outside the center [fuel] tank fuel pump explosion resistance area,” of the twin-engine widebody. FAA says in the AD that the area “is open to the pump inlet, which could cause an ignition source for the fuel vapors in the fuel tank and result in fuel tank explosions and consequent loss of the airplane.” To correct the problem, FAA is mandating that airlines install an automatic shutoff system for the auxiliary fuel tank/override jettison fuel pumps on all Boeing 767s.
That means this airworthiness directive takes in a lot of airplanes. FAA estimates the AD encompasses 414 Boeing 767s registered here in the United States. Among the airlines with significant 767 fleets: American, Delta, Continental, United, and US Airways – virtually all the country’s so-called “legacy” mainline, hub-and-spoke airlines. The cost to solve the problem according to FAA: as much as $4,655,016.
The airworthiness directive also calls on carriers to revise the 767’s flight manual “to advise the flight crew of certain operating restrictions for airplanes equipped with an automatic auxiliary fuel pump shutoff control.” On certain aircraft, the AD mandates that a placard be installed in the cockpit “to alert the crew of certain fuel usage restrictions.”
Some context: regulators and airlines have taken fuel tank issues very seriously since the July 17, 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. The Boeing 747-131 was en route from New York Kennedy to Paris Charles de Gaulle when it exploded in the heavens off Long Island on a hot summer’s night. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the Probable Cause for the crash that claimed all 230 souls-on-board was “a fuel/air explosion in the airplane’s center wing fuel tank.”
While NTSB couldn’t determine the specific ignition source “with certainty,” the Safety Board concluded the most likely spark came from “a short circuit outside of the [center wing tank] that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication system.”
Much speculation surrounded the accident, with Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy’s former press secretary, contending that the aircraft was shot brought down by a U.S. Navy missile.
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