Study looks into reformulating aviation fuel

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration may ask the U.S. oil industry to develop a safer form of aviation fuel because new information uncovered in the Trans World Airlines Flight 800 crash investigation suggests fuel can ignite at lower temperatures than previously thought.

FAA Administrator Jane Garvey called for a study to explore the viability of converting production Jet A fuel, the fuel currently used by commercial aircraft operators, to JP-5, a more expensive fuel with a significantly higher ignition temperature. JP-5 fuel is used by the U.S. military.

Government and industry experts will study the issue and report back within 45 days, Garvey said. In addition, the independent National Transportation Safety Board will convene a meeting in January of representatives from the FAA, TWA, plane-maker Boeing Co. and other aerospace equipment manufacturers, NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said. They will discuss what more needs to be done to prevent aircraft explosions like the July 1996 incident that claimed the lives of all 230 on board. "While the ignition source that triggered the explosion in the center fuel tank (of TWA flight 800) may never be pinpointed, it is incumbent on both our agencies to do our utmost not only to improve Boeing 747 safety in the short term but also to deal with longer- term measures that can improve safety in all commercial aircraft," Hall and Garvey said in a joint statement. Both Boeing and the FAA acknowledged at the NTSB hearing earlier this month that the long-standing approach to fuel tank safety of attempting to "engineer out" potential ignition sources is not enough. They said they are now considering methods of eliminating volatile fuel vapors in the tanks, as the NTSB wants them to do. The agency sent a letter to the American Petroleum Institute last month asking the oil company trade group to examine the economics of making a commercial aviation jet fuel similar to JP-5, which can get 40 degrees hotter than commercial airline fuel before becoming flammable. Oil companies currently make a small amount of JP-5 fuel for the U.S. Navy. JP-5 fuel costs about 2 cents a gallon more than Jet A fuel.

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