From New York Daily News:

Many families still fuming
BY BRIAN KATES
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, July 16th, 2006

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, pressure is mounting for a congressional probe into why the federal government has still not mandated fuel-tank safety systems that could prevent a repeat tragedy.

The Paris-bound Boeing 747 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic near Center Moriches minutes after takeoff from Kennedy Airport on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people aboard.

Soon afterward, the National Transportation Safety Board called for devices to be installed on jetliners that would replace oxygen in fuel tanks with nonexplosive nitrogen. The so-called inerting systems have been on the NTSB's Most Wanted List of air safety improvements ever since.

But the Federal Aviation Administration has yet to require the systems - even though its own research shows they are 100% effective in preventing explosions like the one the NTSB determined had downed Flight 800.

"This is an important issue which must be resolved," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.), whose district includes Smith Point Park in Brookhaven, where tomorrow victims' family members plan to assemble for a memorial service, as they have every year since the crash.

Late last month, acting NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker slammed the FAA for moving "much too slowly. Ten years after the TWA accident, fuel tank inerting systems are not in place in our airliners, and flammability exposure is largely unchanged."

In 2000, after a four-year, $38 million probe - the most expensive in aviation history - the NTSB concluded that poorly designed wiring triggered an explosion in Flight 800's near-empty center fuel tank.

While inerting has been standard on military aircraft since the Vietnam War, the FAA did not propose rules requiring it for commercial airliners until last November. And the agency does not expect to complete its review of industry reaction to the proposal before the end of the year.

If the rule is ultimately approved, it will take at least seven years to retrofit the country's commercial fleet, according to the FAA.

"Our children, our husbands, our wives, our loved ones died because the FAA did not act responsibly," said John Seaman, chairman of the Families of TWA Flight 800 Association, whose niece Michelle Becker, 19, perished in the crash. "Congress needs to get to the bottom of this."

FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said flying is "far safer now than in 1996." She called the proposed rule a "safety net" that "follows more than 100 directives to eliminate ignition sources."

The FAA says it would cost $313 million to retrofit the existing U.S. fleet.

The Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, opposes the move, saying the feds have overstated present-day risk and underestimated the effectiveness of other safety systems. "Simply put, it is not justified from a benefit-cost perspective."

Since 1959, 26 fuel tank explosions have been documented in commercial and military aircraft, four after Flight 800; 346 people have died in them.

Faced with industry opposition, the FAA two years ago developed a lightweight, less costly fuel tank system and shared the design with Boeing and Airbus for possible voluntary installation.

Boeing has made a fuel tank flammability reduction system part of its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft and has begun installing inerting devices on newly built 747s. But it has not yet begun to retrofit older 747s.