BY NANCY ROSENSTOCK
NEW YORK - July 17 marked the one-year anniversary of the day Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 crashed over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island killing all 230 people aboard. Leading up to this date, the big-business media was full of stories about the ongoing suffering of the families of the victims. A House of Representatives aviation sub-committee held hearings July 10 where they heard testimony from relatives of the victims. Several memorial services were held on July 17. Little to nothing was said in the news, however, about the cause of the crash or what measures the government may take to improve airline safety.

After recovering 95 percent of the plane from the ocean floor and a year-long investigation, the government has discovered no evidence to back its earlier claims that a bomb or a missile caused the explosion. What investigators have concluded is that a mechanical malfunction, which ignited an explosion at the Boeing 747's center fuel tank, is the most probable cause of the disaster. The investigation, however, has not ended as the FBI and the government have refused to accept mechanical failure as the definitive conclusion.

At the recent aviation hearing, the first government sub- committee hearing on the crash, James Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said, "I think we'll be able to solve this mystery."

On July 15, a 747 jet similar to the one that crashed was flown over the Atlantic with the same amount of fuel as TWA Flight 800. This plane was equipped with 150 sensors that track temperatures, pressures and fuel/air ratios in another effort to determine what may have ignited the explosion.

The government has been dragging its feet, despite recommendations from the NTSB. An earlier report by the safety board had pointed out that the fuel pipe that runs down the center of the plane, called the cross-feed manifold, can allow static electricity to build up, resulting in a spark that could ignite fumes in the tank causing an explosion.

The NTSB recommended that the center fuel tanks of 747s be loaded fully before departure. In addition, the board proposed mandating a procedure known as "inerting," which has been known for 24 years, but has never been implemented due to its high cost and the unwillingness of the companies to pay. "Inerting" flushes explosive vapors from the empty space in fuel tanks by pumping in nitrogen or some other inert, nonflammable gas so that vapors that build up will not explode.

In a clear case of putting profits before human lives, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the governmental agency responsible for airline safety, refuses to adopt the proposed NTSB standards.

Upon hearing these recommendations, Boeing, the airplane manufacturer, said the measures are "far-reaching and have broad implications for the entire industry." In response to the proposal to institute "inerting," Boeing officials said that "our experience indicates that the protective features built into the fuel system are effective for the service life of the airplane."

The big-business press has backed the aerospace giant. The July 12 New York Times ran an editorial titled "Flight 800's Technical Puzzle" that supports inaction in implementing any new safety standards. "There have been only two explosions of Boeing central fuel tanks in over 120 million hours of flights," the Times editors say. "This is an astoundingly good safety record, which warrants no hasty correction - especially if `corrections' could create a new, graver risk."

Referring to the recent re-enactment of flight 800, the editorial concludes, "The important fact is that repetition of Flight 800's center tank explosion is a small enough risk that regulators can take the time to make the right decisions."

As competition in the airline industry and among plane manufacturers sharpens, it has become clear that the companies and the government will increasingly sacrifice safety and working conditions for the sake of shoring up their profits.

On July 22, TWA announced it will cut another 1,000 jobs - 4 percent of its workforce - by the end of the year. The airline said it is consolidating its 23 domestic maintenance stations into 13. According to Associated Press, the cuts will include about 250 jobs at the airline's overhaul base in Kansas City, Missouri; 200 jobs at its domestic line maintenance stations; 200 jobs from airport operations; and 225 jobs from reservations.

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