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


Paul, I beg to differ on the Persian gulf incident being a "mistake". The Aircraft was intentionally targeted by the guided missile cruiser because it appeared to be on an attack vector to the cruiser, which was at the time, engaged in multiple surface actions. The aircraft did not respond to attempts at radio communication, was not squaking transponder code.
CMDR Will C. Rogers acted in the defense of his crew and vessel. The Iranians intentionally sent the aircraft, filled with martyrs for the Islamic revolution, into the hot zone to provoke an international incident.
Will C Rogers was my CO aboard the USS Cushing, DD985, previously, and I never met a more professional naval officer in my short career with the military.
C. Smith

I can believe that.

Paul Lamar