http://av-info.faa.gov/ad/PublishedADs/02-18-52.html My question, How come there were no explosions? You know, those Gov. TWA 800 fuel tank tests were done with PROPANE, oh, ya didn't hear that on CNN did YA!

Wrong question.The right questions are: Where the hell are the inspectors during installation? Where's the checks on design? Where's the airline inspections?What a wonderful workforce we're going to have in a few years if it's this bad now.

Reading the directive, it seems that it was internal to the pumps. Therefore, the question should be: Who was doing QA at the pump manufacturer?This is completely different than chafed wires running from the pump to extenal sources.If the pump is submerged in liquid (fuel), the liklihood of explosion is nill.This same occurance could happen in your car, since most modern vehicles use electric fuel pumps submerged in liquid, if you try to empty your tank so drastically that the pump becomes exposed to vapors, heats up, and burns out.

Right on, wsieffert. A few news channels also took the viewpoint that all aircraft are "flying bombs" but luckily, a few interviewees said that as long as the pumps were submerged, it would be safe.I believe that explosion of the Thai 737 being prepared for the presidents flight was due to the centre fuel pumps being left on while the tanks were dry, causing the explosion.

W. Sieffert mentioned chaffed wires. In regards to this topic, were was the QA at McDonald Douglas (when they still existed) when the wiring went into the MD11's? From my understanding, chaffed and inferior wiring is what led to the crash of SwissAir 111 off the coast of Canada. Of course now I believe they are putting in better wiring to alleviate this from happening again in all MD11's.