Prior to the aviation accidents of TWA Flight 800 and SwissAir 111 , the wiring on aircraft was a minor concern . In response to these accidents , the Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory Committee ( ATSRAC ) was chartered to gather industry leaders examine the current state of aging aircraft systems ; one of the main areas examined included EWIS . The committee included a number of key organizations and businesses including ATA , NASA , Northwest Airlines , Boeing , Airbus , FAA , and Lectromechanical Design Company . Many of the results from the ATSRAC committee shaped the FAA 's regulatory reaction to the handling and certification of EWIS . The following is an excerpt from the FAA ’s regulations released November 8 , 2007 governing aspects of EWIS on aircraft as to the reason for the increased concerns regarding EWIS : “ Safety concerns about wiring systems in airplanes were brought to the forefront of public attention by a midair explosion in 1996 involving a 747 airplane . Ignition of flammable vapors in the fuel tank was the probable cause of that fatal accident , and the most likely source was a wiring failure that allowed a spark to enter the fuel tank . All 230 people aboard the airplane were killed . Two years later , an MD – 11 ( Swissair Flight 111 ) airplane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean , killing all 229 people aboard . Although an exact cause could not be determined , the presence of re-solidified copper on a portion of a wire of the in-flight entertainment system cable indicated that wire arcing had occurred in the area where the fire most likely originated . Investigations of those accidents and later examinations of other airplanes showed a collection of common problems . Deteriorated wiring , corrosion , improper wire installation and repairs , and contamination of wire bundles with metal shavings , dust , and fluids ( which would provide fuel for fire ) were common conditions in representative examples of the ‘‘ aging fleet of transport airplanes . ’’ " The FAA funded a number of studies involving the analysis of the current state of wiring on aircraft , the deterioration processes of wiring systems , tools to detect wire failure , and ways of quantifying and mitigating the damage from an electrical arc
TWA Flight 800
TWA Flight 800
Electrical wiring interconnection system