Don’t expect those changes any time soon. The FAA is balking at any quick modifications–and that opposition is renewing age-old grumbling that the FAA is too close to the industry it is supposed to regulate. (The NTSB recommends safety improvements, but only the FAA has power to order design changes.) Meanwhile, Boeing says it needs more time to consider NTSB proposals, saying evidence doesn’t support the claim that static electricity caused the explosion. “We have to analyze and evaluate all data before any of these changes are implemented,” says a Boeing spokesman. But even if it turns out static didn’t cause the TWA crash, investigators say the problem could still lead to an explosion in the future.
Even NTSB officials acknowledge that the 747 is widely regarded as one of the safest planes in the air today. In the 19.5 billion miles the plane has flown over the years, it has averaged fewer than two catastrophic accidents for every million takeoffs. The NTSB’s proposals–insulating the fuel tank from heat sources, pumping nitrogen into the tank to suppress vapors–could cost millions. For that kind of money, the NTSB is going to have to prove that what it wants fixed is actually broken.
