2000 Personal Accounts

The Darwin Awards salutes the spirit portrayed in the following personal accounts, submitted by loyal (and sometimes reluctant) readers.

Fill 'er Up!   2000 Personal Account 14 years ago Uncle Bill drove a fuel truck delivering aircraft fuel to the airport. The side of the tanker was emblazoned with the business name and EXACTLY what kind of fuel was inside the tank. Early one morning when Uncle Bill was approaching the main gate, two men in a smaller fuel tanker waved him down. Being a nice guy, he stepped out of his truck to see what the trouble was. They pulled a gun on him and told him to fill their tank with the fuel from his. Not wanting to risk his life, he proceeded to do so. After their tank was topped off, they warned him to back away, and they began to fill their truck's gas tank with the same fuel, using a coffee can. Airplane fuel is very dangerous in a car's gas tank. Uncle Bill calmly stated, "You really shouldn't do that." They replied rudely with a shot to his left leg. When they were through, they hopped into the cab and started up the engine. It roared loudly as they drove away. Bill shuffled himself and his wounded leg to safety in a drainage ditch next to the road, just in time to turn around and watch the whole truck explode twenty feet away. Next time someone tells you, "you really shouldn't do that," it might be best to listen. DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2008 Submitted by: Cammy Awful? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Great? Hate it! Love it! Kevin says, "This story is impossible! A buddy of mine used to work in an ariport and was in charge of refuling the planes. Needless to say I got a lot of free gasoline when he worked there. At one point I had eight gallons of 118 octane AVGAS running through my car, and yet 100,000 miles later I am still driving the same vehicle. I did get the best gas millage ever when i was driving around with airplane fuel in my car" Steve of Utah Track says, "Aviation gasoline (AVGAS) has a higher octane than normal automotive gasoline. The higher the octane, the SLOWER the fuel burns. That was the reason for using tetraethyl lead in the old days: it slowed down the combustion rate, and gave a more prolonged "push" for greater power. Jet fuel comes in different grades, but most or all are forms of kerosene, which isn't as volatile as gasoline. This leads me to say that unless there was something other than AVGAS or jetfuel in the tanker, this story is an urban legend." Does aviation fuel really explode in a car gas tank? What if the car was a diesel? A Discussion of the Physics.

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