Re: airline fuel tanks and rats on the line

Ian Goddard (Ian@Goddard.net)
Thu, 25 Feb 1999 23:01:08 -0500

At 10:07 PM 2/23/99 -0800, spike wrote:

>>>>

<excerpt> wrote:

<excerpt>outflow near some sparking kapton wire, and BOOM. Moreover, since the tank was mostly empty,

its volume was not entirely a vapor version of the fuel. It was air filled with fuel fumes.

It is an ideally explosive setup. Ideal mixing, minimum swirl, etc.

</excerpt>Wow thanks Mike! Finally an explanation that makes some sense. Altho

perhaps not entirely comforting to a flequent fryer. {8-[ So I really did

misunderstand the report, which I thought was saying the explosion somehow

happened inside the tank, not due to ignition outside. This explanation

sounds like fuel fumes leaking out, then igniting. OK, now we have

beaten *that* subject thoroughly to death... {8^D

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

IAN: It's not true that the NTSB

says there was an ignition external

to the tank.