-Caveat Lector-
No evidence Boeing tried to hide data, officials say
19-year-old report may have speeded TWA crash inquiry,
NTSB says
10/31/99
Associated Press
SEATTLE - Federal officials say they have no evidence that Boeing
Co.
intentionally covered up a 19-year-old safety report that could
have clued
investigators in to what caused the crash of TWA Flight 800.
Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board told
aides to
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, that the report by Boeing -
commissioned
by the Air Force to look into problems with the military version of
Boeing's
747 - could have directed them to the fuel tanks immediately rather
wasting months searching for evidence of a missile attack or bomb.
The FBI spent more than a year following reports of suspicious
streaks in
the sky, feared to be a surface-to-air missile, before announcing in
November 1997 that mechanical failure was to blame in the July 1996
crash. All 230 people on board Flight 800 died.
In a written statement Friday, the NTSB expressed "displeasure" and
"dismay" about the three-year delay between the crash and the
discovery
of the report this spring.
Federal officials said they learned of the report's existence only
in March
after it was listed on the agenda for an Air Force task force
studying the
safety implications of the Flight 800 explosion. Boeing turned the
report
over to the NTSB in June.
The four-volume report focuses on whether excess heat from air
conditioners in Boeings E-4B military jet could create highly
flammable fuel
vapors in the central fuel tank.
Russ Young, spokesman for Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, said
Saturday that differences between the E-4B and the 747 made the
report
largely irrelevant to the TWA investigation.
The E-4B, for example, has four air-conditioning units under the
fuselage,
compared with three in a standard 747, and the air conditioners
often run
for long periods in the E-4B while it is on the ground, Mr. Young
said. The
E-4B also burns a different fuel.
The report was overlooked by employees in the commercial airplane
division because it dealt with a military aircraft, Mr. Young said.
He said
the company's procedures have since been changed to prevent that
from
happening again.
"In retrospect, although the relevance of that [report] is
questionable, we
wish we had found it earlier and passed it along," Mr. Young said.
"There
didn't seem to be any realization on the military side [of the
company] that
the investigation was relevant or potentially relevant."
The General Accounting Office, which conducts congressional
investigations, has been interviewing employees at Boeing and the
Air
Force and has found no evidence of an intentional cover-up, Grassley
aides said Saturday.
Mr. Grassley is chairman of the subcommittee that oversees airline
disaster
investigations.
After being briefed by the GAO on Friday, Mr. Grassley said the TWA
tragedy could have been prevented if Boeing had brought it out
after a
1990 fuel tank explosion on a Philippines Airline Boeing 737 at an
airport
in Manilla.
"When it's a matter of public safety, the ethic for both
manufacturers and
regulators must be to overreport," Mr. Grassley said Saturday. "If
the
NTSB had been given the 1980 report and others, it could have
pressed
the FAA to set the very standards finally proposed this week for
airplane
fuel tanks. The document, regardless of what it says, should have
been
reported to the NTSB."
The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday announced proposed
regulations to make airplane fuel tanks less susceptible to
explosions by
requiring that new planes contain fuel systems that minimize
flammable
vapors and that aircraft makers develop new maintenance programs for
fuel tanks within a year.
The NTSB hopes to complete its report on the crash of Flight 800 by
spring.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
=================================================================
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
