Customer Reviews

TWA Flight 800: The Mystery Solved

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One can see problems with this book right from the beginning when the author states she is only a poor female. There are plenty of descriptions of the fuel tank system, but the author provides no evidence to support her claim. Her conclusion was that the vents were accidentally left closed, but she cannot back this up. She also claims that there are plenty of sparks in the fuel tanks of the 747 frequently. Rubbish. She also refuses to indicate where the spark that brought down TWA 800 originated. There is some evidence that a shoulder-fired missile brought down the aircraft, yet she only discounts friendly-fire rather than terrorist activity. Thinking of buying this book? Do not bother. There is nothing but unsubstantiated nonsense. The author stated she wanted to discount all the nonsense, but she has only added to it.

This brief book resembles more a "sales brochure" than a book. Only pages 11 and 12 discuss the authors' theory that "oxygen in the tank" caused the explosion. The others supply explanation of the workings and schematic diagrams of the 747's fuel system. She seems to think that the fuel vents are manually opened and closed by the fuelers and/or maintenance personnel on the ground . "But if someone forgot to re-open the vents, then air would have been trapped in the tank" (p 12). "Air trapped in the tank" caused the the explosion? How do the authors think fuel is supplied to the engines? If the tanks aren't vented to the atmosphere, there wouldn't be anything to replace the fuel in the tank as it is consumed and one of two things would happen:

1) Fuel starvation might occur, or

2) The tank would collapse progressively as fuel is consumed.

Either scenario is not normal. Venting also reduces fuel vapors in the tank by siphoning. When others discuss overheated fuel tanks and vapors as contributing to the center tank explosion, they miss the fact that as the aircraft climbed to 13,700 feet, the atmospheric pressure reduction in the tank would have caused a substantial decrease in the fuel vapor's temperature.

On page 13, she recommends the airlines "install oxygen detectors in the top of all fuel tanks . . ., connected to cockpit indicators" and to "keep a minimum of 2,000 gallons [13,400 lbs.] of fuel in all center main fuel tanks." Notwithstanding that tankering this extra fuel around would contribute to substantially higher aircraft operating costs, the reason for favoring the wing tanks at lighter gross weight conditions is "wing bending relief." By placing more fuel (and weight) in the wing tanks, the stresses of flight are distributed more evenly over the wing's span rather than concentrated at the wing roots.

This book must take the cake for its lack of theoretical soundness. Overpriced and not recommended.

Have you ever seen the size of fuel lines? Do you know what combustion is? Do you know how to light a match? A candle? Do you have any idea of the components involved between the combustion chamber on the CENTER fuel tank? First of all you have small fuel injectors which are about the size of the tip of an ink pin, then you have a fuel line which is about 1/4 inch in diameter and it probably runs more than 100 feet before it gets to the fuel tank. There has to be Oxygen for the fuel to burn. How does this happen? Please don't write about something you don't have a clue about! Take up checkers or something.

The only time that there is only fuel vapor in the tank's ullage (the area in the tank above the fuel level) and in the vent lines, occurs when the airplane is stationary on the ground or during low-speed ground operations. The design of the vent system includes a scoop under each wing tip oriented into the relative wind which acts to slightly pressurize each tank through the vent lines that run laterally from surge tank to surge tank. This acts to evacuate the fuel vapors from the ullage and also to put a "head" pressure on the fuel to decrease the vapor formation.