I recall pumping JET A into a F-16 that had to make a emergency landing at a civilian airstrip. Was not sure waht that desigation was but seeing it in type jogged my mind.
I know one thing yet again about JP4. You do not use it to burn brush. I learned two times the hard way. One time I poured a bucket full in the drainage ditch along the road to burn out the weeds etc, there was just a trickle of water in it, nothing much. I poured the JP4 in and then stuck a match and I had about 300 yards of drainage ditch on fire at one time.........
Another timne I had one huge pile of logsl brush etc from a lot of triming and clearing I did, that I had built up over a matter of abaout a year or so. It was one huge pile all stacked nice and neat and in a typical T Pee fashion, alaong with built in old tires I had planed on filling with diesel fuel etc to get the brush pile going. I brought home 2 five gal buckets of JP4. It was hot as heck out. I got up on that pile and commenced to filling up tires and splashing thats tuff all around the pile, used the first 5 gal up and aabnout half the second container full. Got a stick and wrapped a wad of cloth around it, which I also soaked in JP4. (You think I was gonna get close to that pile of brush, nope, I'm a smart guy, I was gonna light that rag on the stick and toss it at the pile). I reached for my lighter, could not find it, evidently it fell out of my shirt pocket when I was dumping the JP all over the brush pile. So I tell my youngin to get a lighter from mom. I am out there waiting and waiting, and finally get fed up so I wallk on into the ouse and there the youngin is eating a sandwhich...........as he was hungry, (he was about 4 at the time) so mom made him a sandwhich and I grabbed a cigarette lighter, went out and struck the lighter to light the stick / rag and it was like an atomic bomb went off. Vapors built up in the hollow I had the brush pile in and all it took was striking the lighter. Never got to light the rag and toss it. I had my back to the pile luckily, and the blast actually knocked me down. Singed some hair but thats all. I turned around and it looked just like the picture of an atomic bomb going off, huge beautiful mushroom cloud, brilliant bright red yellow orange flame going upwards along with lots of burning limbs etc. That was too close for comfort even for a guy like me that used to like to do crazy things.........Just fortunate the youngin was hungry and was still indoors.........
We were told in Tech school that one cup full of jet fuel was equal to a stick of dynamite in the right conditions. I think I was in the right conditions. Or would that be wrong conditions.
