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No Mystery About Death Count in Indonesia Crash —
Fuel Tank Flammability on Boeing Aircraft a Long-Standing Safety Issue, Aviation Lawyers Say.
March, 2007
The similarities between the fatal post-crash explosion of a Boeing 737-400 in Indonesia today and several other disasters is a shocking reminder of what has not been done to make aviation safer, according to lawyers at Kreindler & Kreindler, a New York based aviation law firm.
One of the major air safety conversations following the 1996 explosion of TWA Flight 800 was the need to make fuel tanks explosion proof. This is important not just to prevent in-flight disasters but events just like the one in Indonesia. Because of a design unique to Boeing airplanes, some fuel tanks on Boeing jetliners are in a flammable state as much as 30% of flight time.
It is too early to say what caused the failed landing of Garuda Airlines jetliner and professional investigators will take that assignment seriously. But it is clear that the fatalities were the result of the fire likely triggered by fuel tank explosions.
"Survivability of accidents can be greatly enhanced when tanks are rendered explosion proof so that should passengers survive a crash, they are not killed by the subsequent explosion of the tanks," said Justin Green, an attorney and pilot at Kreindler & Kreindler. "This appears to be what happened in Yogyakarta."
In the past 10 years an estimated 40 fatal fire aircraft accidents have occurred in which passengers survived impact but were killed by the subsequent fire.
Kreindler & Kreindler has handled several air disasters in which post-crash fires, not the crash itself were responsible for the death of passengers. The August 2006 a Comair crash in Lexington Kentucky involved an extremely fast-moving fire that completely destroyed the passenger cabin within minutes. A runway accident in Quincy, Illinios in 1997 killed 14 people on two airplanes. Occupants of the airplanes were unable to escape the flames when the two planes collided.
Post crash fires are nearly always the result of the ignition of fuel vapors in intact fuel tanks or the burning of spilled fuel. Seats and cabin materials provide also fuel the fire and sometimes cause the emission of toxic fumes.
The most crucial factor for survivability is how quickly people can escape the aircraft. In the Garuda crash it appears a number of people survived because they were able to flee the airplane before the tanks exploded.
Air accidents in the United States which spotlight post-crash survivability issues:
- Delta Flight 1141, Dallas, August 31, 1988 – 13 fatalities, 94 survive.
- Air Canada Flight 797, Cincinnati, June 2, 1983 – fire in flight, landed safely but 23 of the 41 passengers unable to escape aircraft and died from smoke inhalation and fire.
- Two Northwest Airlines flights collide on the runway in Detroit on December 3, 1990. 14 people killed Eight of 44 people die.
- USAir and Sky West Metroliner collide at LAX, Feb., 1991 – 34 die, 67 survivors.
*Survivor represented by Kreindler & Kreindler and willing to speak to reporters.
- United Express Beech 1900 and Beech King Air collision, November 19, 1996. All 14 people on both airplanes survived collision and died in post crash.
- Korean Air Flight 801 in Guam August 6, 1997. At least 20 of the 228 people died from the post crash fire and smoke.
- USAir Flight 1016 DC 9 crashed on approach in Charlotte, July 2, 1994. 37 of 57 people aboard died.
*Survivor represented by Kreindler & Kreindler and willing to speak to reporters.
Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, Tradition of Excellence, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Los Angeles.
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