Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2004)
m MSC Diversity Presents "An Evening with Maya Angelou Saturday, February 28t Rudder Auditorium 6:30 p.m. Free Admission* * Please note: seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Memorial Student Center * Texas A&M University For more in formation, or information regarding ADA accessibility, please contact MSC Diversity at 845-1515 AGGIE BASKETBALL STUDENT NIGHT TONIGHT!!! ALL STUDENTS GET IN FOR FREE! Texas A&M vs. Kansas State Women’s Basketball Wednesday, Feb. 18 7:00 p.m. FREE FREEBIRDS BURRITO! A COUPON WILL BE GIVEN TO THE FIRST 300 A&M STUDENTS WHO PRESENT THEIR STUDENT ID! We are giving away tons of cash prizes! Biggest Organlzatlon/Dorm - $300 Organlzatlon/Dorm - $100 free Ttmw Contest Winner - $100 One person from each organization can enter the free-throw contest. WIN UP TO $500.00 FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION/DORM! Show your aggie Spirit and fill un the student section!! buy tickets, be inspired 8 Wednesday, February 18, 2004 NATIO THE BATTALION Airlines ordered to install new fue system to reduce chance of explosion By Leslie Miller THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The gov ernment will order airlines to install a system to reduce the chance of fuel tank explosions like the one that downed a TWA Boeing 747 in 1996, Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey said Tuesday. The decision affects about 3,800 Boeing and Airbus aircraft operated by domestic airlines. In the past 14 years there have been three fuel tank explo sions, including the TWA acci dent, resulting in 346 deaths. Blakey said the new device could eliminate up to four acci dents over the next 25 years. “We have a plan that will vir tually eliminate fuel tank explo sions aboard aircraft,” Blakey said at a news conference. A cost-benefit analysis still must be done and airlines need time to plan for the change, so the requirement is not expected to take effect for at least two years. Once the rule is issued, the so-called fuel-tank inerting program will be phased in over seven years. During that time existing planes will have to be retrofitted with the device and new planes will have them as standard equipment. Some jetliners may be fitted with the systems before they’re required. Jim Proulx, Boeing spokesman, said the company plans to start producing new planes and retrofitting existing ones late next year. TWA Flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the accident on an explo sion, saying vapors in a partly empty fuel tank probably were ignited by a spark in the wiring. The accident prompted FAA scientists to step up research aimed at eliminating potential ignition sources for such explo sions and reducing the flamma bility of vapors in fuel tanks. They came up with a way to make fuel vapors less likely to ignite. The system pumps air flowing from the aircraft engine into yard-long, 8-inch-wide can isters. A ropelike substance in the canisters filters oxygen and water from the air. The resulting nitrogen-rich mixture, which is much less likely to combust than normal air, is pumped into fuel tanks. The filtered oxygen and water is dumped off the aircraft. Though the new system probably wouldn’t be fitted onto all planes that need it until 2013, the FAA has already ordered air lines to make 60 changes to eliminate possible ignition sources, Blakey said. For example, in 2002 the FAA told airlines to replace fuel pumps that have faulty wiring. The agency also ordered airlines to fly certain model jetliners with extra fuel to prevent fuel pumps from overheating. But the government might not have identified all the ways a spark could possibly ignite fuel, Blakey said. The new sys tem would add a safety net by making it nearly impossible for fuel to explode. NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman-Conners said the new system is essential. “Ignition-source prevention alone cannot protect transport airplanes from this potential danger,” Engleman-Conners said in a statement. “The issue of fuel flammability had to be confronted.” The FAA estimates the cost between $600 million and $700 million, Blakey said, or between $140,000 and $220,000 per aircraft. In 2001, a government-indus try task force concluded it would be too expensive — up to $20 billion — to retrofit airlin ers with the equipment neces- Safety device for airlines The government will order airlines to install a system to reduce the chance of fuel tanl explosions. On-Board Inert Gas Generation System Engine air cooled to 180 degn Oxygen is ' separated from air. Oxygen reduced air goes into fuel tank lessening the risk of explosion. SOURCES: Federal Aviation Administration: Associated Press sary to pump nonflammablt nitrogen into fuel tanks. But Ivor Thomas, a forr Boeing scientist who went work for the FAA, made several research breakthroughs the past two years that FAA scientists to develop cheaper, simpler solution. The FAA thought it wasnec essary to reduce the oxygen to! percent of the air siphoned aircraft engines into fuel t Thomas discovered that oxygei only needed to be reduced to ll percent. The air we breathe is21 percent oxygen. Thomas also discovered nitrogen would remain in \k fuel tank, which eliminated tk need for a compressor to forceii to stay. Some airlines, such Southwest and JetBlue, will affected more than others the rule because their fleets are made up entirely of Boeing or Airbus jets. NEWS IN BRIEF Study finds violence, unlabeled content in video games CHICAGO — Many teen-rated video contain content that is not listed on the label, including sexual themes, alcohol and profanity, a study found. Given the results, parents should be aware that popular T-rated video games might include a wide range of unexpected content that could have a negative influence on their children, said Harvard University researchers Kevin Haninger and Kimberly Thompson. The current voluntary rating system “is providing complete information to parents’ Haninger said. “In many games there’s we think parents would care about." The authors reviewed labels on all 396 stream T-rated video games available asc 2001, and watched a random sample of 81 games. Violence was listed in content labelsofl 373 games, or 94 percent; 15 percent labeled as having sexual themes; 14 were labeled for profanity; and 2 percent labeled for depicting substances such ast co or alcohol. Liberal Arts Career Week "Resume Day" Wednesday, February 18,2004 Blocker lobby & Harrington south outside er *Have your resume critiqued for presentation to pro *Helpful hints on how you can best present your ski "Liberal Arts Career Fair" Friday, February 20,2004 Rudder Exhibit Hall, 10 AM - 3 PM *Come meet with prospective employers regarding positions *Don't miss your opportunity to network and practf www.lasctamu.org Stui R studei :h ena jte change However, 1 fee boxe , since dependent either prov ampus or taxes have 1st stude IA, and Suggest dally work problems a tain unr tl's no seer dents here, tesentative; igle cons This is r iismofSG fact far froi iork extrei lemajorit; Inevitably, these repree d ideas actions roul is the 1 gestions obi improve SG tie students However one other as manentforu have 1 Radmil (1C co racial i Inrespon The Face Musive Ci % have a % didn't! 'Faculty Co Disc •tat it wasn The orgat tydoes no! t, it prr The FCIC PM of Unr lo Padminit IS Vice Pr James And dear if the jon really f a “me "'fjthemse is clet cJ tace-bas Abased toady exi . scar %//yct.ta In the sp color and ju H'eit charac Nnservativ