To: I M Esperto
Quote:
"At the time of TWA 800. 1,108 B-747's had been built, and none ever blew.
If the FAA actually believed the NTSB report, they would have had to ground all B-747's".
The FAA has overruled the NTSB on many of their recommendations. For instance when TWA 800 exploded the NTSB issued their findings and made the required recommendations to correct the problem. The FAA, which operates in support of the airline industry, will perform a cost benefit analysis. This analysis pits the cost to the airlines to make the necessary changes and factors in the downtime loss to the airline in revenue, the physical cost of making the change and any other factor that might impact the bottom line of the operators of the effected aircraft series.
These cost figures are compared to the cost in dollars to the airline to replace the downed aircraft, the payments to the survivors figuring 2.5 million dollars per person for a full load. The Department of Commerce derives this figure for a human life from calculations,which are updated on a yearly basis taking into consideration the cost of living, the present economy and other factors. The FAA will compare the two figures and their recommendations are based on the difference between making the change and not making the change. If it costs more to make the change Vs the cost of not making the change the FAA will recommend against making the change.
This fuel pump problem seems to support the findings of the NTSB at least in changing the pumps or the pump design but it falls short of the NTSB recommendation to change the wiring as the NTSB felt that the wiring not the pump caused TWA 800
