1980 report into Boeing aircraft fuel tank problems released NTSB

Airline Industry Information, Nov 2, 1999

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C) 1997-9 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

A Boeing report from 1980 about the fuel tank problems of some Boeing aircraft has only just recently been made available to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB has criticised Boeing for not identifying the relevance of the report earlier and is hoping that it will shed light on the crash of TWA flight 800 in 1996, which is believed to have been caused by a fuel tank explosion. Boeing has defended itself, saying that it did not think that the report was relevant to the 1996 accident. The report focusses on centre fuel tank overheating problems in the E-4B jet aircraft, which is a substantially modified military version of the 747 passenger aircraft. Boeing believes that the modifications to the aircraft render the report's findings inapplicable to the passenger model. The main differences between the aircraft include the number and operation of air conditioning units and the different types of fuel used. Boeing has now made alterations to its internal processes for locating information potentially relevant to accident investigations to ensure that a similar omission does not occur in the future according to Reuters.