e section of the center fuselage. The intact mid-spar and rear spar were strong enough to hold the wing together until the aircraft was well into the dive.After about 50 to 90 seconds succeeding the explosion, most of the debris, resulting from the explosion, were in the water.3.0 SOURCES OF IGNITIONDue to the inability of the NTSB investigators to find the source of the ignition in the CWT and exploded TWA flight 800, several theories have been put forward by NTSB and the aircraft industries. These theories include the jet fuel flammability and the failure of some electrical components onboard of TWA 800. 3.1 JET FUEL FLAMMABILITY 3.1.1 FUEL CHARACTERISTICSThe characteristics of Jet Fuel provide us with an understanding of how the temperature and conditions surrounding may effect the CWT explosion of TWA flight 800. The main terms used to describe jet fuels characteristics include (DornHeim, 1997, p62):Fuel/air ratio, which is the volumetric ratio of fuel vapors to air.Lower flammability limit (LFL). This is the minimum fuel/air ratio required for a flame to spread.Upper flammability limit (UFL), which is the maximum fuel/air ratio that sustains flame propagation.Flash point. The lowest temperatures of a liquid when a test flame will cause vapors near he surface to momentarily ignite, or flash.Autoignition temperature. This is the lowest temperature of a vessel at which injected fuel vapor will spontaneously ignite. The kerosene-type Jet A (DornHeim, 1997, p57), the fuel that was used in TWA flight 800, have a flash point above 100 F. They have low vapor pressure and are popularly thought to be hard to ignite, but research decades ago showed the fumes could be ignited well below the flash point. The specification of Jet A includes a 100F minimum flash point. The autoignition temperature is not specified but is around 450F. As stated by DornHeim (1997), the LFL drops as altitude increases...
