Word: faa
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Tuesday evening it was clear that the hearings' emotional center was not the past but Hall's fears for the future. His primary frustration involved a long-held industry custom. Designers have always--"since the first airplane," noted Daniel Cheney, an FAA manager--understood the dangers inherent in cramming electricity into a narrow airborne hull with the flammable vapors that can result when a tank is hot and mostly empty, but they have addressed the problem primarily by isolating or eliminating the sources of possible sparks. Their assumption that further precautions involving the fuel tanks were unnecessary has historically been...
...Hall's main attention and considerable scorn, however, were trained on the neglected science of fuel-tank security. "I think I reflect to some degree the concern the American traveling public has in this issue," he said in a deceptively soft drawl. "In this country, we look to the FAA for regulations on safety." Incensed that in the months since the crash, industry inspectors have checked the fuel-tank safety of only 52 of the 970 Boeing 747s in operation, Hall asked Boeing officials whether the 52 included Air Force One. Receiving the predictable affirmative answer, he harrumphed, "Every airline...
...time Hall was done, both his targets were claiming to be on his side. The FAA's Cheney announced that his agency had decided to study the safety board's recommendations. Insisting that "we are seriously embracing attacking this problem on the flammable-vapor level," he pledged to "take action" on fuel-tank maintenance programs for all U.S. aircraft. Boeing declared that it had been studying fuel-tank improvements since the crash and is considering more thorough insulation and "sweeping" out accumulated fumes during flight...
...video conferencing, for example. Its specialty is maintaining air-to-ground communications for airports on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration. As Malkani describes it, "We go and we test. We say when the systems have to be upgraded, and with what equipment, and we buy it [for the FAA...
...home, but that's where the resemblance ends. They're created by experts. The Long-EZ was made by legendary designer Burt Rutan, whose Voyager in 1986 became the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. Before any experimental aircraft can take off, an FAA inspector goes over it in excruciating detail to make sure it's airworthy. Flying a Long-EZ isn't as safe as sitting on the couch watching Seinfeld--71 accidents and 28 deaths have been reported since 1983. But that's safer than many homebuilts and comparable to other small planes...