Fuel Tank

A man cleaning the inside of a fuel tank at a Baltimore County trailer company was critically injured yesterday when he was overcome by fumes. The state is investigating possible safety violations.Marion Scollar, 28, who worked for Brody Transportation Trailer Division just outside the city in Baltimore Highlands, was in critical condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.Baltimore County Battalion Chief Mark Hubbard said firefighters who were called to the company in the 3500 block of Marmenco Court about 11 a.m. found Scollar lying unconscious inside a large tank used to transport fuel on the back of a truck.

Sixteen years before TWA Flight 800 exploded with a loss of 230 lives in 1996, a Boeing study showed that the central fuel tanks of its jumbo jets were taking in heat from air-conditioning units directly under them, but the company failed to report the finding to safety investigators until last summer, federal and company officials acknowledged yesterday.In its 1980 study, Boeing found that "the dominant source of heating" in the central fuel tanks of its E-4B aircraft -- a military version of Boeing's commercial 747 -- was the air-conditioning equipment bay, positioned right under the fuel tank.

WASHINGTON -- The Boeing Co. is opposing the costliest and most sweeping repair of jetliner electrical systems recommended by federal aviation investigators in the aftermath of the fatal fuel tank explosion of TWA Flight 800.The National Transportation Safety Board urged the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday to require airlines to impose difficult and labor-intensive changes in the electrical wiring on thousands of jetliners, a substantial part...

Police logFort Meade: A thief forced open the rear kitchen window of a home in the 8100 block of Windy Trail shortly after 3: 30 a.m. Sunday and stole a purse with credit cards and a check book.Odenton: Vandals poured water into the fuel tank and rock salt and screws into the oil spout of a 1996 Ford ambulance parked overnight at May Ambulance service in the 1200 block of Annapolis Road.Pub Date: 2/04/97

Deep inside the center fuel tank of the Boeing 747, beams more than 6 feet high divide the cavernous living-room-size structure into narrow compartments. An obscure access door with a hatchlike cover is used only rarely, when mechanics need to walk from one cell to another.This, investigators now know, is where the disintegration of TWA Flight 800 began. The access door blew off its beam. Another beam crashed forward. And a third beam was forced into the cargo hold.That, according to a 150-page draft report, was the beginning of the end.Like detectives in a crime novel, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have pieced together in astonishing detail the last moments of TWA Flight 800. Using microscopic metallurgical images, debris field diagrams that show the order in which the wreckage came off the plane, examinations of soot patterns and knowledge based on years of experience sifting through wreckage at crash sites, they have produced a document unprecedented in crash investigations.

With the most promising explanations for the midair explosion of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 becoming increasingly difficult to prove, the eight-month investigation has turned into a nationwide scientific exploration of all conceivable theories, including such remote possibilities as the plane's being destroyed by debris falling from space or by natural gas rising from the ocean.The widening of the search reflects investigators' fears that they will never be able to say precisely what ignited the explosion.

Investigators said yesterday they are still focusing on the possibility that a frayed wire -- possibly in TWA Flight 800's fuel measuring system -- might have short-circuited, touching off an explosion in the jumbo jet's overheated fuel tank.Testimony during the third day of the National Transportation Safety Board's hearings in Baltimore focused on what event -- or series of events -- might have caused the deadly blast that brought down the Paris-bound Boeing 747 off Long Island, N.Y., shortly after takeoff on July 17, 1996.

A high temperature in TWA Flight 800's center fuel tank made it much more prone to an explosion caused even by a low-level spark, a California Institute of Technology scientist testified yesterday.Tests showed that increasing the temperature in the fuel tank from 86 degrees to 140 degrees magnified the risk of explosion by 100,000 times, Dr. Joseph Shepherd testified during the second day of the National Transportation Safety Board's hearings at the Baltimore Convention Center into the explosion aboard the Paris-bound flight in July 1996.

Deep inside the center fuel tank of the Boeing 747, beams more than 6 feet high divide the cavernous living-room-size structure into narrow compartments. An obscure access door with a hatchlike cover is used only rarely, when mechanics need to walk from one cell to another.This, investigators now know, is where the disintegration of TWA Flight 800 began. The access door blew off its beam. Another beam crashed forward. And a third beam was forced into the cargo hold. That, according to a 150-page draft report, was the beginning of the end.Like detectives in a crime novel, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have pieced together in astonishing detail the last moments of TWA Flight 800.Using microscopic metallurgical images, debris field diagrams that show the order in which the wreckage came off the plane, examinations of soot patterns and knowledge based on years of experience sifting through wreckage at crash sites, they have produced a document unprecedented in crash investigations.

As a historic National Transportation Safety Board hearing got under way here yesterday, expert witnesses and safety investigators sought to put to rest continued speculation that a bomb or missile brought down TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, New York.Even though a missile could have reached the Boeing 747 as it climbed to 15,000 feet, the reconstructed aircraft showed virtually no signs of high-velocity impact caused by a missile warhead, witnesses testified. Likewise, none of the 230 bodies had injuries typical of a bomb explosion, they said.

As the Pentagon continued to scan debris from an errant spy satellite struck by a Navy missile, officials said yesterday that results so far look good. Preliminary reports showed that the SM-3 missile launched by the USS Lake Erie likely destroyed the satellite's hydrazine fuel tank 153 miles above Earth, leaving no pieces larger than a football. "If that's true, there should be no danger to anyone," said Ray Sedwick, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland.

The Maryland State Fire Marshal's office in Bel Air is investigating an incident in which fireworks were placed in the fuel tank of a vehicle in Abingdon, authorities said. The owner discovered the fireworks shortly before 8 a.m. yesterday and called authorities. A spokeswoman for the fire marshal's Harford County office said the fireworks did not explode and caused no damage to the 2003 Ford Taurus in the 2900 block of Trellis Lane. No one was injured. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the fire marshal at 410-836- 4844.

The shuttle Discovery rocketed into space yesterday, carrying a crew of seven on a challenging two-week mission to continue construction of the International Space Station. The flight includes five spacewalks, the largest number of any shuttle mission. Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11:38 a.m. on an eight-minute jump to space that carried the shuttle from a standing start to a speed of more than 17,000 mph. Discovery's engines guzzled fuel equivalent to emptying a backyard swimming pool every 23 seconds.

Two people suffered minor injuries when a fuel tank exploded at a construction site in Hunt Valley yesterday morning, Baltimore County fire officials said. About 8:45 a.m., workers hit an underground tank near Cockeysville Road and Beaver Court in an industrial area. The tank, which contained a small amount of fuel, exploded, rupturing a concrete cap above it, said Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost. One worker was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Discovery's astronauts will inspect much of their ship's heat shielding for signs of damage today after a Fourth of July liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, the first shuttle flight in almost a year. Mission managers expressed confidence that the inspections will confirm indications from launch photography that the shuttle's fuel tank did not shed dangerous pieces of foam insulation as happened on three of the past four flights. Footage from a video camera mounted on the tank showed several small objects breaking off at five different times during Discovery's 8 1/2 -minute climb to orbit, en route to the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL,Fla. -- This afternoon's planned liftoff of space shuttle Discovery is on after a lengthy debate last night over a small chunk of foam insulation that broke off the ship's fuel tank. Detailed inspections of the shuttle's tank at the launch pad convinced NASA managers the issue did not pose a safety hazard. As a result, shuttle officials cleared Discovery for flight late yesterday without ordering further inspections today. "There were no dissenters when we went around the room," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's head of space operations.

NASA said yesterday that changes to the space shuttle's external fuel tank should prevent large chunks of insulating foam from falling off and hitting the craft, keeping the next mission on schedule for a possible July 1 launch. "Based on what we know today, there is no reason not to launch on July 1," said program manager N. Wayne Hale Jr., who stressed that the final decision won't be made until engineers certify that the fuel tank is safe and the shuttle passes a flight readiness test.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA managers said yesterday that there would be no more major safety changes to the space shuttle's external fuel tank until after the next planned launch in July. The decision follows a debate among engineers on whether to modify so-called ice-frost ramps on the tank's exterior before Discovery's coming flight. The small ramps are crafted from foam insulation that is sprayed by hand on the tank's exterior to prevent the buildup of ice. Concern remains among some engineers that in a worst-case scenario, pieces of the ramp weighing 2 or 3 ounces could break off during launch and hit the orbiter, causing critical damage.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The only way to really test the safety of the space shuttle's redesigned external fuel tank is to fly, according to Discovery's astronauts, who said yesterday that they were eager for a May liftoff. "We will lose foam on this flight, just like every other," said commander Steven Lindsey, who could lead a crew into space as early as May or as late as July. "The key is to make sure that the foam we do lose is a small enough size so it can't hurt us if it hits the vehicle."

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA managers decided yesterday to officially target a three-week period starting in mid-May for the space shuttle's return to flight. A combination of delays caused by summer hurricanes and continuing technical challenges led program officials to conclude four weeks ago that an earlier launch opportunity in March and April was not feasible. Yesterday's decision means the shuttle's first flight since the February 2003 Columbia accident is tentatively planned between May 12 and June 3. Some in the program privately contend that those dates likely will slip again to July or possibly September because of the amount of work that lies ahead.