A ground crew man who witnessed fuel leaking from a Boeing 737 gave not only warning for the passengers and the crew of said flight, but also the first lead as to what caused the fire and subsequent explosion.
The accident which has continued to to garner world wide attention and focus, has come up with its major findings. The Boeing team, who flew to Okinawa immediately after the incident, have reported that the cause has been isolated down to a bolt which came loose and punctured one of the fuel tanks. It seems that this is not the first time that a bolt has caused a leak, but probably the most famous. The original preliminary cause had been reported widely as a broken fuel hose.
This finding by the Boeing team has prompted the FAA to make a worldwide announcement to newer model 737 owners, to check all bolts on their aircraft. This would immediately affect 783 aircraft. It is speculated that there will soon be follow-up announcement from the FAA to expand this inspection to include all 737’s in the worldwide fleet. This is expected to include more that 2,500 aircraft in all.
The fire of the damaged aircraft can be veiwed here through YouTube