747 PLAN COULD COST BILLIONS : NEW SAFETY SYSTEMS URGED 30 YEARS AGO.Byline: Dave Saltonstall The New York Daily News New York Daily News Morning daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson and his cousin Robert McCormick as a subsidiary of the Tribune Co. of Chicago. The first successful tabloid-format newspaper in the U.S. Recommendations aimed at making 747s safer could cost airlines - and ultimately travelers - billions of dollars in new on-board On board usually means to be traveling on some vehicle. For example, Baby On Board. Compare with overboard. Metaphorically, the term on-board is often used to refer to some piece of technology that is integrated in a moving vehicle, for example: The proposals from the National Transportation Safety Board on Friday focused on ways to reduce the likelihood of central fuel tank explosions in 747s. Authorities investigating the July 17 crash of Flight 800 believe such an explosion occurred over Long Island, killing all 230 aboard. The Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control urged airlines more than 30 years ago to install the same nitrogen-enriched fuel tanks that the NTSB NTSB abbr. National Transportation Safety Board recommended Friday. But the airlines balked balk v. balked, balk·ing, balks v.intr. 1. To stop short and refuse to go on: The horse balked at the jump. 2. because of the cost - even as military jets adapted the new nitrogen system - and the FAA never followed up, said Arthur Wolk, an aviation lawyer and expert on airplane crashes. ``It is, in my view, another sad example of the FAA knowing about a problem that could cause a catastrophe and bowing to industry pressure,'' Wolk added. ``Every time the FAA does that, there is a loss of life.'' The NTSB recommendations were the clearest indication to date that agency officials believe the cause of the crash was mechanical failure. In explicit wording, an NTSB memo declared the recovered pieces of Flight 800 ``consistent with an explosion originating within the tank.'' Many investigators believe a spark from an unknown source ignited ig·nite v. ig·nit·ed, ig·nit·ing, ig·nites v.tr. 1. a. To cause to burn. b. To set fire to. 2. To subject to great heat, especially to make luminous by heat. vapors in the nearly empty tank. But FBI assistant director James Kallstrom has downplayed the new developments, insisting that the possibility of a bomb or missile is still under investigation. ``The FBI position is that it is not helpful to the investigation for either identified or unidentified investigators to be speculating as to the cause of the crash,'' said Joseph Valiquette, an FBI spokesman. Still, the NTSB recommendations would minimize the chances of a fuel tank explosion. Under the procedure, nonflammable non·flam·ma·ble adj. Not flammable, especially not readily ignited and not rapidly burned. nitrogen gas is pumped into the fuel tanks to keep oxygen and fuel vapors from mixing, a combination that under certain conditions can explode. |
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