October 30, 1999
Web posted at: 8:45 a.m. EDT (1245 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A newly uncovered 19-year-old study of fuel tanks in the military version of the Boeing 747 would have helped investigators understand that the cause of the explosion that brought down TWA Flight 800 was mechanical, not a bomb or missile, according to sources at the National Transportation Safety Board.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who is investigating Boeing's failure to hand over the study earlier to the NTSB, said if safety investigators knew about the data on how fuel tanks overheat it could have implemented design changes years ago and even prevented the crash.

Boeing told CNN it is embarrassed it overlooked the study until this year, but questions its relevance because the tests were conducted on a military, not civilian, aircraft.

Boeing also said that at the time of the 1980 study, it was concerned about fuel pump operation, not about the tanks' explosiveness.

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