N. Alvares, Fire Sciences Applications, San Carlos, CA, USA, nalvares@sbcglobal.netAC Fernandez-Pello, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
An engine failure resulted in the crash of a twin turbo-jet commuter aircraft in Bear Creek Township, Pennsylvania on May 21, 2000 killing 19 people on board. While the lack of fuel was determined as the cause of the crash, if it was from an empty tank is investigated. The 70 mm thick aluminum alloy structural members of the plane reached melting temperature (~500 Celcius) in 4 minutes from the jet fuel pool fire (burn rate ~0.06 kg/m^2/s). The pool fire had an area of 10 m^2 giving ~130 kg (40 gallons) of fuel burned. Assuming all of the heat released during the fire was from the jet fuel, this was sufficient fuel for the airplane to reach its destination.