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
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