Originally Posted by
tdracer
Are you sure there were no changes? Boeing developed a center fuel tank inerting system in direct response to the TWA 800 accident. It uses engine bleed air, separates out the nitrogen from the oxygen - the nitrogen is pumped into the center fuel tank while the O2 is dumped overboard. It keeps the O2 concentration in the center tank low enough that ignition is extremely unlikely even with an ignition source. Installation of the center fuel tank inerting system was mandated for all 757 and 767 aircraft. My memory is a bit foggy on the dates, but I think it had to be done by around 2015.
I'm not sure what year the deadline was, but I recently (maybe a few years back) read that Thai Airways was retiring their 747s because that deadline was approaching. Mind you, the accident happened in 1996. I never understood how the deadline for a design flaw so deadly could be allowed 20 years to be rectified. And actually I'm not sure how many airlines, if any, installed the inert gas system.