BY NANCY ROSENSTOCK

New York - One of the worst disasters in aviation history, the July 17 crash of Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 that killed all 230 people aboard, still officially remains "unsolved." This exists despite the fact that the government has conducted the largest and most expensive effort in aviation history to recover parts of the plane off the ocean floor.

Meanwhile, a string of accidents continue to plague the industry. A Fokker-100 aircraft of Brazil's TAM airline crashed into a heavily populated area of Sao Paulo shortly after takeoff on October 31, killing all 96 people aboard and at least eight people on the ground.

In spite of overwhelmingly evidence to the contrary, the U.S. government, TWA, and Boeing have attempted to prove that Flight 800 crashed as a result of a bomb. Despite the fact that this effort has met little success, they have refused to give up the bomb theory. In this way they hoped to use the crash to further their campaign to curtail democratic rights.

According to a New York Times article on October 26, they state that "federal officials have tentatively decided to take a series of new steps in the inquiry, including reconstructing a large section of the Boeing 747 that exploded on July 17 and blowing up another 747 to test various theories about the crash." About 95 percent of the plane has been recovered so far. FBI can't find "Eureka piece"
James Kallstrom the FBI official in charge of the investigation told an October 2 government briefing in Washington that the salvage effort had still not found "the Eureka piece" - the piece that the government hoped would prove their bomb theory. That meeting included the FBI director and the staff official in charge of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.

A public debate has opened up as overwhelming evidence mounts that Flight 800 crashed as a result of a mechanical failure. "Split Over TWA Crash's Cause Widens as the Inquiry Continues" was the headline of a New York Times article printed October 13. "Breaking with their counterparts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, some senior federal transportation safety officials now say they believe that a mechanical failure probably caused Trans World Airlines Flight 800 to crash, not a bomb or a missile," the article stated.

What is not in dispute is that the center fuel tank exploded. The Washington Post reported that after extensive metallurgical tests of the wreckage from the center fuel tank, it is clear that the metal is bent, rather than shattered or pulverized. It "is consistent with a `low order' explosion or one that has less velocity and force than a bomb or missile detonation." Putting profits before safety
In a clear case of the airline bosses putting profits before safety, a proposal by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) twenty-four years ago that would have required airlines to use a technique known as "inerting" was never implemented. "Inerting" flushes explosive vapors from the empty space in fuel tanks by pumping in nitrogen or some other inert, nonflammable gas.

The New York Times reported October 24 that aviation experts say "the tank probably would not have exploded at all if it had been flushed of its explosive mix of air and fuel vapor before the jet took off." An official at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said, "Obviously, inerting the tank would prevent an explosion." There is "quite a bit of talk now about finding ways to revive the practice on commercial jets."

As airlines cut back on safety measures and government agencies look the other way, emergency landings of airplanes and fires aboard aircraft increase.

On September 5, a Federal Express DC-10 cargo jet made an emergency landing at Stewart Airport in upstate New York when a fire engulfed the plane. The plane was en route from Memphis to Boston. As the plane burned for eight hours on the runway, workers in surrounding buildings and children at a nearby elementary school were evacuated when it became known that the plane contained hazardous materials. The exact extent of the hazardous materials was not immediately known since Federal Express did not release a list of the materials until hours after the fire was extinguished.

On October 19, a Delta Airlines MD-80 slid down a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport landing just yards from Flushing Bay. The plane's landing gear was sheared off as the plane, which was flying into the airport too low, hit a wall at the edge of the runway.

In a similar incident last November, an American Airlines MD-80 also came in too low, this time at Bradley Airport in Hartford, Connecticut, shearing off treetops. The plane landed short of the runway and hit antennas just before the landing area.

On October 28, an American Airlines MD-80 made an emergency landing at JFK Airport in New York. The plane, which originated in Chicago, was supposed to land at LaGuardia Airport. When a problem developed with its landing gear, the plane was diverted to the longer runways of JFK Airport. The New York Times reported on October 30 that "preliminary reports from American Airlines engineers indicated that the mechanism that raises and lowers the landing gear malfunctioned."

In December, 1995, a Tower Air 747 slid off a runway at JFK Airport in New York. Now, ten months later, the NTSB has come out with a report revealing that the plane's flight data recorder, or "black box" as it is commonly referred to, was not working. Despite numerous other problems that point to gross negligence on the part of Tower Air, the NTSB's only recommendation was to improve Tower Air's training of flight attendants on how to secure food carts.

The Association of Flight Attendants had protested government officials' decisions to allow ValuJet Airlines to resume operations. The airline returned to the skies on September 30, following a June 17 shutdown after investigations uncovered a series of safety violations that led to the crash of its May 11 flight. That disaster killed 110 people near Miami.

Two years after a crash of a USAir Boeing 737 in Pittsburgh that killed all 132 people aboard, the NTSB has recommended to the FAA changes in the operation of 737s. Problems with the plane's rudder system have been attributed to several crashes. The 737 is the most common airplane in the U.S. and is Boeing's best selling aircraft.

Thomas McSweeny, director of the FAA's aircraft certification service told the Seattle Post-Intelligence that it was too early to tell if the FAA will endorse all of the NTSB's recommendations. "I don't find them off-the-wall, but we need to study them further," he said October 16. "Too much tinkering with the 737s could create other problems."

Nancy Rosenstock is a member of the International Association of Machinists and works for TWA at JFK Airport in New York.  
 
 
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