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

For professional, non-government information go to:

http://twa800.com/documents.htm

Click the link for "ARAP's Interim Report"

Perry Mick

http://twa800.com/iamaw/iamaw.htm

I captured the pertinent paragraph.

Paul Lamar