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Old 28th November 2001 | 08:00
  #15 (permalink)  
TowerDog

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Uh slow down GlueBall:

Diesel fuel ignites due to heat and pressure from a 20-1 compression ratio.
You are indeed rigth that jet fuel could ignite under the same conditions: Inside a diesel engine that is.

Even if your jet had clogged vents and ram-air built up pressure inside the fuel tanks,
(Or pressure build-up from clogged vent and return fuel being pumped into tank)
uh, the wing would most likely rupture long before there was enough pressure to cause ignition from compression.

I would guess the fuel tanks could only take a couple of PSI before failure, the burn chamber in a diesel probably has several hundred PSI. (Or thousands or millions: Where is the engineers when ya need 'em??)

As far as what happened to TWA 800, the more I learn about that accident, the less sure I become: Fuel tank problem, missile, or some other factor. (Fuselage fatigue, wing spar snapped, engine explosion, bomb, whatever)
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