TWA investigators plan explosion of center fuel tank to get answers
By Pat Milton
Associated Press
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. - Investigators plan to blow up the center fuel tank of a scrapped 747 jetliner to help determine if an explosion in TWA Flight 800's nearly empty center fuel tank could have caused the disaster, a source said yesterday."It is the only way to show how much damage would have been caused on board," the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.The re-creation of the explosion is expected to take place within weeks in a Western desert, the source said.
Shelly Hazle, a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said only that investigators were considering blowing up a center fuel tank. No date seems to have been set.
From the wreckage of Flight 800, investigators have been able to determine that the downed jet's center fuel tank exploded, but they have not figured out what ignited the blast.
The tank had only 50 to 100 gallons of fuel, making it potentially more volatile if somehow the vapors became overheated and a spark ignited them. But preliminary testing by Boeing Co., which built the 747 jumbo jet, seems to bolster the bomb theory.
Boeing's analysis, produced several weeks after the crash, indicated that an explosion in the fuel tank itself would not have provided sufficient force to rip the plane apart.
The NTSB wants to conduct its own analysis rather than rely on the manufacturer's findings, the source said.
"The NTSB wants its own proof, particularly since it's such a vital question that needs to be answered," the source added.
Flight 800 had just left Kennedy Airport for Paris on July 17 when it exploded and scattered over the Atlantic Ocean 10 miles off Long Island.
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