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.

   Heck cars would be blowing up all over the place. Fuel flows through
   the pump past the armature and past the brushes.

   What they do with a fuel air bomb is first blow up the tank to
 distribute
   the fuel in the air to roughly the proper mixture and then ignite the

   mixture
   with a flare. Then you get the really big bang. Forget the movies of
   cars and
   gasoline tank trucks blowing up.

   A can of gas will put out a match but don't ask me to demonstrate :)
   Do it with a robot.

 Paul Lamar


     NOT a Match, but a cigarette, Virg


 I've seen it done without igniting the fumes (cigarette).
 Harold Lunt

If i remember correctly several days before the 747 was shot down the
Palestinians said if we did not stop backing Israel they would give us
something to think about.
Steve Hudson



The aircraft destroyed as TWA Flight 800 was reconstructed and is at the NTSB training facility in Virginia (I don't recall the exact location, and I have not seen it since shortly after the reconstruction was accomplished).  Although I often (in fact, usually) have differences with NTSB findings, they appear correct on this one.  I certainly love conspiracy theories as well as the next guy, but they don't fit in this instance. The physical evidence reveals an explosion from inside the center tank.

~ Nick Jilek


Where you involved in the investigation or are you restating what you read?
Using the word "conspiracy" does not apply in this case. It is an attempt
to discredit the people that might disagree with the official findings.

All the TWA mechanics that inspected all 747's after the 1996 crash disagree with
you. No "shorts" were found.Thousands of 747 flights had occurred with empty
or near empty center tanks and none "exploded" except that one. Flying with
an empty center tank was SOP.

It reduced the stress on the wing. No modifications or AD's were mandated having
anything to do with the center tank fuel system. My wife was a TWA mechanic at the time.
IMHO the accidental shoot down  was covered up by the Clinton administration
(1993 to 2001).  IMHO the truth will come out sooner or later.

I doubt a terrorist shot it down as it was obviously hit by a radar guided
missile and not infra red guided missile. If infra red it would have hit
an engine.

In 1988 a guided missile cruiser (Similar to the one in the Atlantic at the time
of the TWA shoot down.) shot down an airliner in the Persian Gulf by mistake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655


Paul Lamar