Given the esteem in which most journos are held on ths forum, I'm surprised that there hasn't been more comment on the use of the word "explosion" and "blast" in the Sky news report!
On a more thoughtful note, kerosene is a combustible, not flammable, liquid, with a flash point of between 110 and 162 degrees Fahrenheit (42-72 C) and an ignition temp of 410 degrees Fahrenheit (210 C). I believe (although I might be mistaken) that kerosense was deliberately chosen as an aviation gas turbine fuel because of these characteristics which make it relatively less likely to suffer from inadvertent ignition and particularly explosion.
Either way, it sounds like a particularly unluckly accident to me. I guess the air temperature was quite hot that day in Denver and that the fuel just happened to touch a particuarly hot part of the engine exhaust. A combination of unlucky circumstances; I don't think you need to start rewriting the rule books or getting paranoid about going up in smoke every time you do your walk-round just yet!
