Jet Fuel at the WTC?

Apart from the many videos, the apparent plane debris outside the WTC, and the eyewitness accounts of planes hitting the WTC, there were also many accounts of "jet fuel" fires and "jet fuel-fueled" explosions at the WTC.

Let me say straight out that clearly there is evidence for fake videos, fake plane debris, and fake eyewitnesses. And thus obviously, it seems probable that the jet fuel accounts are simply mistaken impressions of something besides jet fuel. Of course, we can't rule out coerced accounts or even fabricated accounts either. However, many people were clearly burned that were not in close proximity to the floors affected by the "plane hits"-- people in elevators or in the basement or elsewhere. I think it quite possible that the burning incidents ascribed to jet fuel are due to incendiary bombs or fuel bombs or even mini-nukes (particularly in the basement, e.g. Felipe David).

But what I really want to do here is take on the official story of jet fuel a bit. This is from the NIST report:


First off, I think the 10,000 gal figure is an exaggeration, since that was almost maximum capacity of the fuel tanks. It is unlikely the planes were maximally loaded with fuel before take-off, and they had officially flown at high speed for several hundred miles, partly at low altitude, which would use more fuel. Plus, other accounts have said there was 7,000 gal on each plane to start. I'm going to go with a lower figure of 5,000 gal per plane, due to the official flight circumstances. Now NIST claims that only 30% of the fuel burned in the initial fireballs that occurred upon collision. That seems a bit arbitrary and low, but let's go with their figure. That leaves 3,500 gal fuel deposited in one tower. Clearly, that is a good amount of fuel, and left to burn in one place, could do serious damage. Of course, the fuel would not be in one place but would have been dispersed heavily through the impact floors. 3,500 gal over three impact floors, that would be roughly 1,200 gal per floor, which sounds like a lot. But the WTC was huge, 200 by 200 feet per floor = 40,000 square feet per floor. Even if the fuel only affected one quarter of each floor, that is about one-eighth of a gal per square foot (1,200 gal per floor/10,000 square feet)-- 128 fluid ounces per gallon, one-eighth gives about 16 ounces (1 pint) per square foot. That's enough to soak the carpet/furniture and start a real nasty fire-- but I think overall that the combustibles on each floor could have fueled as much if not more fire than the supposed jet fuel. And if the fuel was dispersed over half or more than half of each floor, than there is much less fuel per sq. ft. Of course, the fuel would not be dispersed perfectly evenly, and probably it went over more than one-quarter of a floor. This is all just to get a general idea of the amounts here.

The most amazing part of the jet fuel fire story is the stories about the elevators exploding because of jet fuel pouring down the elevator shafts. First, of all, as my math showed, there simply wasn't a huge amount of jet fuel to even go into the elevator shaft in the first place. Let's say about 4 gal managed to go in a shaft-- which I think is a maximum amount possible (elevator shaft = 6 ft x 6 ft = 36 sq. ft. area cross-section, one-eighth gal per 36 square feet = 4.5 gal). Next, this liquid has to flow down one thousand feet to get to the lobby or the basement if it goes in one of the two elevators that went all the way up and down the tower. So-- much fuel will get dispersed on the way down, which means it is possible that almost no fuel reaches the bottom. In fact, I say that it is impossible for 4.5 gallons of fuel to trickle down an elevator shaft 1000 ft and then explode in a fireball at the bottom. Thus, someone like Felipe David cannot have been burned by jet fuel going down the elevator shaft.

Now, possibly some elevators would be hit by jet fuel much higher up in the tower-- and these elevators would get a higher amount of fuel. But even all 4.5 gallons, if splashing on top of an elevator, while horrible for anyone inside the elevator if it is burning, shouldn't cause an explosion inside the elevator! First, much fuel will splash outside the elevator and around the sides and only a small amount will get in through vents in the ceiling-- I can't see more than one-tenth of the total fuel getting INSIDE the elevator. Second, Jet fuel is not so intensely flammable as to violently explode, particularly with those amounts. The various accounts of elevator doors being blown open by burning jet fuel must be explained by something else-- likely bombs.