"In 2005, the FAA announced its intention to mandate inerting systems, which pump nitrogen into the fuel tanks to reduce their flammability, on board every new airliner and on any existing airliner built since 1991. The final rule was issued in 2008, and every applicable airliner in the United States — which by now is virtually all of them — had a nitrogen inerting system installed by 2018."

And, not coincidentally, United and Delta retired their passenger 747s just before the deadline. It was never mentioned in any of the press stories about the last flights, those tended to be more nostalgic.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/delta-boeing-747-retireme...

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/farewell-your-majes...

The fact that the two airlines chose to continue to fly unmodified fuel tanks for a decade after the ruling is somewhat frightening.

> And perhaps most terrifying of all, NTSB investigators found evidence that five of the 25 airplanes had experienced on-board electrical fires which self-extinguished without ever being detected.

Wow.

I was working at Hughes Aircraft in the 90's and this accident came up. One of the older guys said Grumman had a missile test range right there and he was convinced it was an accident. This little fact is notably absent from the article but does suggest a reason the FBI was so convinced it was a missile, even if it turned out not to be.

That day gave me a scare. My best friend was just married and on his way out of New York for Europe. I didn’t know their actual itinerary, so there was a remote possibility of this being their plane.

Thankfully it was not, but felt “close” for me.

One of the best blogs on the internet right now!

Great article, but I believe this needs a (2022).

The kicker for me was hearing that the NTSB - and NASA - rejected Boeing's fault tree.