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New safety rules set for 737s

Thursday, April 12, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

SEATTLE -- The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to order the nation's airlines to adopt new safety procedures that would further reduce the chances of a fuel-tank explosion on Boeing's 737, the world's most often-flown jetliner and the workhorse at Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport.

An industry source told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the federal agency will issue an emergency airworthiness directive as a result of the explosion last month of the center fuel tank of a Thai Airways 737 at the Bangkok airport.

The directive would order airlines not to operate two fuel boost pumps in the center tank when the tank does not have fuel in it.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday there is no evidence the explosion of the center fuel tank was caused by a bomb or sabotage.

The board suggested the plane's air-conditioning units were running and were linked to the explosion. It is the third known incident since 1990 in which the center fuel tank of a Boeing jet blew up after air conditioning packs ran for a long time while the planes sat on the ground on a hot day.

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