We finally have the answers to this. We're going to move on and try to heal our lives. As older planes continue to fly, the safety of aging aircraft is becoming more of an issue, NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said. I have not seen that the industry is paying the kind of attention as it should to aging aircraft, Hall said. We are extending the life of many of these aircraft well beyond their economic design life.
Experts say that can be done safely, but it has to be done carefully.
The NTSB's systems specialist, Bob Swaim, said a team of inspectors found wiring problems on all but one of the 25 planes it inspected and many more problems were found on the older planes. The team found improper maintenance, open-ended splices in wet areas where fluid can cause arcing, and repairs that didn't comply with industry standards. Drill shavings were left behind after repairs, and the metal fragments sometimes worked their way through the wire's insulation. In one plane, a Pan Am dinner knife lodged in a wire bundle. The implications go far beyond TWA Flight 800.