The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 8

A11 LOSANGELESTIMES The Nation By Jennifer Oldham Times Staff Writer Adecade after a Paris-bound jumbo jet exploded in the night sky and plummeted into waters off Long south shore, killing all 230aboard, the airline industry and federal officials still are strikingly at odds over measures that safety experts say would have prevented the accident. Trans World Airlines Flight 800crashed minutes after takeoff from New John F. Kennedy International Airport after aspark ignited vapors in a fuel tank in the center of the Boeing wing. Officials never pinpointed the source of the spark but suspected a short circuit transferred excess voltage into the tank. The July 17, 1996, accident prompted one of the most expensive and far-reaching investigations in aviation history and changed the way fuel and wiring systems are designed, operated and maintained.

To rule out terrorism and determine the cause of the crash, officials recovered of the plane from the ocean floor and painstakingly pieced it back together. But 10 years later, safety experts are frustrated that the primary cause of the accident the flammability of fuel tanks has not been fixed. The Federal Aviation Administration says the problem must be solved to save lives. The airline industry, and airplane manufacturer Airbus, disagree, arguing that dozens of retrofits since 1996 adequately limit the risk of future explosions. The FAA concluded last year that if additional steps taken to modify fuel tanks perched just a few feet beneath passengers on thousands of aircraft, nine jets would be destroyed by a fuel tank explosion in the next 50 In November, the agency proposed a system that would pump nitrogen into center fuel tanks to replace oxygen, which is flammable.

The measure, which the FAA says would cost up to $225,000 per plane to install, would affect 3,800 aircraft with center fuel tanks about half of fleet. The call the system redundant, saying they have spent $1billion since 1996 to comply with new FAA rules seeking to limit hundreds of vapor ignition sources that might blow up fuel tanks. And system installation and maintenance would exceed the upper estimate, costing an average of $420,000 per plane, the airlines say. The dispute underscores increasing tensions between cash- strapped carriers and safety regulators. drives safety changes; it always said Michael L.

Barr, director of the USC School of Aviation Safety and Security Program. think the science is there, but is the money there to do the The FAAproposal to reduce fuel tank flammability is aimed at preventing a safety experts acknowledge, but they say the added protection is worth providing. dealing with extremely low levels of probability, but the nature of the safety said John J. Hickey, director of the aircraft certification service. tanks are far safer than they were 10 years ago, no doubt about that, but we still feel we need this added level of Regulators blame center fuel tank explosions for the destruc- tion of three other airplanes in recent years: In 2001 and 1990, explosions before scheduled takeoff killed nine people total; and about 100 died in a 1989 blast.

After Flight 800 went down, the FAA issued more than 100 directives ordering airlines to overhaul wiring and to assess fuel tank systems to ferret out equipment or processes that could spark an explosion. Two hundred previously unknown ignition sources were discovered as a result. The accident revolutionized the way experts approached fuel tank concluded they would never be able to predict every malfunctionor maintenance error that might ignite a fuel tank, and thatrealization led regulators to search for ways to reduce the flammability of fuel tanks. In 2004, the FAA unveiled a system it had invented for eliminating oxygen in fuel tanks. (Military jets had such technology in the 1990s, but it was too heavy and expensive for commercial airplanes.) FAA experts say their new system could prevent five of the nine FAA-projected jet explosions originating in fuel tanks.

Already-tightened maintenance controls for wiring and other equipment should prevent the other four accidents, Hickey said. In response to the proposed mandate of its system on numerous Boeing and Airbus models, airlines said the analysis was flawed and the costs outweighed its benefits. seem to be a smart use of our valuable safety said Basil J. Barimo, vice president of operations and safetyat the Air Transport a trade group that represents most U.S. carriers.

focusing on an issue that is not a risk that is out there today and is potentially a distraction from what the real risks And manufacturer Airbus said there was no evidence that fuel tank systems on newer airplanes Airbus started designing planes in 1971 presented the same problems as older models. Flight jet dated to 1971. system does add a lot of weight and makes airplanes more expensive to said Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell. it makes air travel more expensive for passengers by solving a problem we believe The airlines and Airbus argue the FAA has overstated the risk of a catastrophic fuel tankexplo- sion. The carriers also say the agency has understated the effectiveness of existing rules.

Replies the Hickey: categorically reject that. We have had several independent groups evaluate our The FAA plans to review comments and hopes to issue its final ruling by September 2007. Boeing says that its 787 Dreamliner will include a system to reduce fuel tank flammability and that other models are testing a system. Airbus says it will not install a nitrogen system on its mammoth A380 unless required to do so. Both the 787 and the A380 are still in production.

Safety experts and relatives of those who died on Flight 800 including 14 Los Angeles-area residents called on the FAA not to back down in the face of airline industry protests. aviation industry has a history of being said Jim Hall, who was chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board when it investigated the TWA Flight 800 accident. hoping in this case we have another tragedy occur as a result of their inability to understand common Reducing the flammability of fuel tanks is still on the priority list of safety improvements, and the board has urged the FAA to broaden its rule to apply to cargo airplanes and to all fuel tanks in aircraft wings. The proposed system could also help suppress fires in cargo holds and prevent explosions in fuel tanks if an aircraft is struck by a missile, the board says. Some relatives of Flight 800 victims, and several retired airline pilots, still believe a missile or a bomb brought down the jumbo jet, which crashed in view of a couple of hundred witnesses of whom told the FBI that they saw something approaching the airliner before it exploded.

The FBI investigated for 16 monthsbefore determining a criminal act was not involved. Today, family members will hold an annual service at a black granite memorial on a wind- whipped bluff on Long south shore. Many have called on the FAA and the airlines to mend their differences and make additional modifications to fuel tank systems. the planes said Jim Hurd, a vehicle mechanic whose 29-year-old son, Jamie, died in the crash and who spent years on FAA committees studying fuel tank safety. can eliminate this tragedy for the next group of SylwiaKapuscinski Getty Images REMEMBERING: Joanne Festa of Oakdale, N.Y., kisses the Long Island memorial for victims of TWA Flight 800.

Ed Betz Associated Press SEEKING ANSWERS: Investigators reassembled fragments of the jumbo jet that were recovered from the ocean floor. Decade After Jet Blew Up, Debate Burns FAA safety fixes intended to prevent a disaster like Flight 800 are in dispute. By Don Woutat Times Staff Writer LAS In traditional caps and gowns, the nearly 400 graduates of Foothill a quintessential suburban school the stage recently to receive their diplomas in front of proud parents and cheering friends. It was a time-honored ceremony repeated across America. But what set this one apart was the venue: the three-tower, 21- story Orleans Hotel Casino that looms over Tropicana miles west of the fabled Strip across the street from the Seamless Adult Ultra Loungeand the Deja Vu Adult Emporium.

The Orleans is one of a new breed of neighborhood casinos that have become de facto civic and family-entertainment centers, complete with day care, bowling alleys, movie theaters and convention space. As its population nears 2mil- lion, Las Vegas is becoming more mainstream and shedding its mob-stained history. Schools are opening at a rapid the city scrambles to hire teachers. Retirees have flocked here, and respected medical centers have opened. But the locals also love to gamble, spending an estimated $1,500 per person annually.

And as the population has exploded, adozen of these neighborhood casinos sprawlingaffairs of up to 80 acres with huge hotels and parking garages that tend to dominate their neighborhoods gone up since 1994. They nearly ring the city, and at least five more are in the works. The latest and splashiest, the Red Rock Casino, Resort Spa at the westernedge of town, opened in April at a cost of nearly $1billion. already expanding. Though Vegas has had neighborhood casinos for decades, the latest versions not only play an expanded role in the city but are far bigger, more elaborate and more profitable than their sometimes seedy predecessors.

For the first even attracting a fair number of tourists turned off by the glitter and crowds on the Strip. As corporate strategy, it has paid off handsomely for Station Casinos the leader in this expanding market. Earnings have more than doubled since 2002, to $309million last year, as revenue jumped by to both records. The company claimed the highest return on investment and fattest profit margin in the highly profitable gaming industry last year. Although the nongambling amenities might get people in the door, the company says of its cash flow comes from slot machines.

And to of its customers are locals. One of those locals is Dante Olgado, a corporate finance executive lunching for free the other day at the Green Valley Ranch in suburban Henderson, Nev. The lunch was a for his time at the poker tables playing Texas Hold percent of the people who live here say they but nonsense, Olgado said. Customers say they get friendlier service and better odds in video poker, a game of some skill that is by far the most popular among locals these neighborhood outposts than on the Strip. Locals can get by without celebrity chefs and tourist-choked traffic.

parking is better, the bargains are the odds are better at the neighborhood saidAnthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, a newsletter of insider advice on deals. dealing with a more sophisticated and discerning customer. The Strip have to do that because the tourists are there for the The advantages of the increasingly resort-like neighborhood casinos are also proving attractive to more tourists, business travelers and out-of- towners visiting friends or family, saidCurtis. The neighborhood casinos rely on them, as well as locals having a fling, to fill up their hotels. elaborate neighborhood edifices are creatures of Las rapid growth and of a gradual blurring of the boundaries between public and private spaces, saidHal Rothman, a history professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and author of Las Vegas grew too fast to establish many public or semipublic facilities, Rothman said, and the casinos have stepped in as a way to lure more people.

result is that the neighborhood casino has taken on a civic Rothman said. Thus the arena at the Orleans, connected to the casino by awalkway, is a logical site for high school commencements. Foothill ceremonies made news when school officials, believing the devout Christian valedictorian was proselytizing in her speech, switched off the microphone. But Foothill High, in suburban Henderson, was just one of 21 public high schools to hold graduationsat the Orleans this year. schools are too small for commencement, so we have to find outside explained Pat Nelson, spokeswoman for Clark CountySchool District.

anybody objected, not aware of she said, adding: actually inside the The Las Vegas Wranglers, a minor league hockey team, plays at the Orleans, which also hosts attractions such as Champions on Ice and the Harlem Globetrotters. Most of these places have cavernous bowling alleys. Several have convention centers. The South a recently opened, 25-story hotel-casino complex far south of the has an equestrian center for horse shows. And the casino operators have captured about three- fourths of the movie screens in Las Vegas.

not a casino anymore if you have movie said David Bothe, a painting contractor and loyal Orleans customer. Bothe, who has lived here 18 years, patronizes the Orleans because in his neighborhood. got everything I need. I will do anything to avoid the he said. Nancy neighborhood casino is the 5-year-old Green Valley Ranch.

It anchors a small, upscale shopping center. The casino has eight restaurants and six fast-food outlets, 10 movie screens, 496 hotel rooms and three swimming pools. More to the point, it has 2,330 slot machines, a sports bookand 54 gaming tables. someone says going to Pottery Barn and then might wander over to the casino, Ifigure gambling is really what interested in, you said Tucker, a real estate agent who has lived here 12 years and spends her share of time playing video poker. In the early days of Las Vegas, the were modest dollar-a-beer joints with loose slots that catered to budget- minded tourists and the folks who livedhere, typically employees at the hotels and casinos on the Strip.

Arguably the first was the Showboat, well east of the Strip, which opened in the 1950s and eventually added entertainment like aroller derby and shows with vaudeville comedian George Jessel. But as the Strip began to boom in the 1970s and hired workers by the tens of thousands, the raced into the fast-spreading subdivisions of the Las Vegas Valley. Those and their doctors, grocers and dry cleaners a place to gamble away from the Strip and closer to home. Some astute casino operators Boyd Gaming Corp. founders Sam Boyd and son William S.Boyd;and Frank Fertitta who started the company that became Station recognized this early on.

New versions of the sinos sprang up, including Townon the Boulder Highway in 1979. Acomfortable, down-home kind of place in a working-class neighborhood, Town has expanded eight times, most recently in 2001, when it added an 18-screen movie theater and a special events center for shows. It is now one of four neighborhood casinos operated by Boyd Gaming here. Just up the road is Boulder Station, which Station Casinos opened in 1994 as its first modern-day neighborhood gambling hall. The company went on to build four more gambling halls, and bought and expanded three others.

The company, which also managessix smaller casinos around town, owns acreage with gambling entitlements for five more casinos the site of the recently demolished Showboat. Boulder Station, which features country and western performers like Charley Pride, remains the most profitable Stationfacility, said Scott Nielson, Station executive vice president. Just inside the Boulder Station casino entrance from the parking garage is the child-care facility, which has become a common feature at neighborhood well as in Indian-owned casinos elsewhere. AMinnesota firm, Kids Quest, operates the facility. For $6.25 to $7.50 an hour, patrons can drop off their children as long as they kids wearing socks.

On weekends, children can play until 1 a.m. while their parents gamble the college tuition. were once vices are now historian Rothman said, quoting a 1970s Doobie Brothersalbum title. Vegas is on the cutting edge of the new normal you and I like it or Where a Casino Makes a Neighborhood With few public spaces, Vegas locals head to new gambling centers for movies and graduations. Sources: ESRI, TeleAtlasSources: ESRI, TeleAtlas Los Angeles Times NELLIS AFB McCARRAN INTL.

AIRPORT Palace Station Santa Fe Station Green Valley Ranch Cannery Casino Hotel Suncoast Hotel Casino Gold Coast Hotel Casino Orleans Hotel Casino Red Rock Casino, Resort Spa Sunset Station South Coast Hotel Casino Boulder Station Fiesta Rancho Texas Station Las Vegas Henderson North Las Vegas 04 MILES Fiesta Henderson 95 15 15 15 515 215 515 The Strip.