• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

(Hollywood Physics) Does Jet Fuel Explode?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Aerowerx

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Messages
6,092
Location
Marion, Ohio
Yes, I know it burns but does it actually explode like gasoline?

I had fire extinguisher training once, and the instructor had to hold a road flare in the kerosene to get it to even burn. Jet fuel is 2nd cousin to kerosene.

This morning I was watching the tail end of the Bruce Willis movie "Die Hard 2". The bad guys were getting away in a fully fueled b747, and he had a helicopter drop him off on the 747 wing.

After the obligatory "wrestling match" with a couple of bad guys he managed to open a fuel dump valve before falling off the wing. He then lit the fuel with his cigarette lighter (in 6 inches of snow, too!!) the flame traveled down the fuel stream on the runway and, just as the b747 was lifting off, traveled up the stream in the air! The b747 then exploded, by which the fire provided landing guidance for the commercial flights that had been on hold (ILS had been destroyed earlier in the movie).

So, is jet fuel that volatile, or is this a prime example of "Hollywood Physics"? Sometimes I wish I didn't know so much about How Things Work, because it ruins for me an otherwise perfectly entertaining movie!
 
Back
Top