Roy wrote:

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 17:41:12 -0600, F. George McDuffee
wrote:
snip
Same idea is used in many military aircraft. After the fuel tank
explosion on flight 800 aircraft civilian aircraft were supposed
to do this also. Should be accomplished by about 2050.

Uncle George



Yep, but it seems they have disconnecte dit on lots of the latest
versions of fighters....They used to use Halon 1301 as a fuel tank
inerting agent...Cargo types use a foam of some sort that is flame
proof and takes up a lot of space but is somehow supposed to still
allow sufficient fuel capacity.......IIRC its a blue color......F-16's
used Halon but somewhere along the line the USAF dropped it like a hot
potatoe.......and deactivated all the systems. I don;t know if its
fact or not, but was told they now have installed a nitrogen system
in its place, however the jets at my old unit still do not have any
inerting systems installed and they rotate in and out of the Iraqi
theater continually so its not like they may not be exposed to combat
conditions so there is not a need for it......

As to flight 800.......its amazing what and how a lot of aircraft
civil and military alike have tons of wiring running in and around
fuel cells......The F-16 has some pretty major wire bundles routed
right through the main fuel cells in nothing more than a thin wall
alum tube or just a grommet and no tube.......or conduit.......and
just about all connections are common electrical crimp on connections
on things like fuel probes (low voltage type) but these same aircraft
get hit by lightning all the time and have lots of burned through
insulation. most of the wires used was that crappy kapton type
insulated stuff which is about as durable as the coating on an
electric motors windings.......While the AC pack helped create flight
800's unsafe condition with heating of the fuel, I just can't seem to
think military aircraft are just as prone, since on most fighters the
entire fusealage surounds the engines and in that fusealage is a tank
for fuel where ever they can be placed.....In a way I believe what
NTSB found with 800, but in other ways I don't buy it all as they
state.
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The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

Almost every new car today has a fuel pump inside the tank..... Its a
mith that flight 800 blew up from a fuel tank pump


John