Unlike hydrogen gasoline will ignite over a relatively narrow
range  of mixtures. 10:1 to about 18:1. The tank environment is
always too  rich to ignite the mixture.

Paul Lamar

Brings to  mind the TWA 747 loss a number of years ago where government
investigators  concluded shorting wires in empty tank ignited jet fuel
vapors
causing  explosion. I was skeptical from the start. Seems to me all 747
aircraft  that vintage would have been grounded immediately for  inspection.


Al K


My wife Robin worked for TWA  in those days as a mechanic. All 747's were
inspected for loose or bare wires.  Robin, due to her small size, spent many
hours crawling around in fuel tanks.  A nasty job.  Nothing was found.  It
was common practice to take off with empty center tank if you did not need
it.  This reduced the stress on the wing spar.  That meant thousands of
successful 747 take offs were made with empty center tanks.  They also did
their damnedest to ignite the mostly empty center tank on an old 747 with
out success.

IMHO it was shot down in error by the Navy and covered up by  the Clinton
administration.  Think of the political fall out if they admitted shooting
it down in error.


Paul Lamar


Exactly right. A piece of Ryan Firebee tailcone was found in the 747
debris. As well as rocket fuel residue on many of the seats. I talked to a 747
driver in the Bonanza club who said they never fill the center tanks even for
Europe as it is just extra weight and stress.

As a government employee at the time I talked to a supplier in New  Orleans
who sold heated diving suits to the Navy to get some stuff airlifted to
the scene. He already had the word that had spread through the diving
community,  that the pingers from the Orange boxes could be heard clearly across the
sound,  while a navy recovery ship sat on top of the wreckage pretending to
look for the  boxes. Then the pinging stopped, although they should have
gone on for maybe  35-40 days, and a few days later the boxes were found.

Plenty of time to work on  the tapes uninterrupted. The biggest hoax since
Oklahoma City.

Lynn E. Hanover