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Jet-a burns slower than avgas of course. It also will spread before it burns. I once poured some on the tarmac in suadia arabia and put my lighter to it and nothing happened. The tarmac was about 150f and the jet-a was about 120f. It has to be atomized and heated a lot to burn. That's why it takes a good bit to start a jet engine. The flame front has to spread around the circumference of the engine. When one won't start the first thing you look at is the igniter and then check for a clogged fuel nozzle.
The jet-a obviously soaked the whole building and burned very slowly, that's why the building lasted as long as it did. Avgas would have burned itself out a lot quicker.
That's one reason I've always been skeptical of the explanation for flight 800. The fuel was hot, yes, but the fuel quantity system just doesn't have that much current to start an explosion. Now, if the 747 runs the fuel boost pump wiring through the tank like some mcdonnel douglas planes then that could easily have set it off.
The statement that the building was made to take a 707 and not a 767 kind of surprised me. I havn't checked on the weight and wing span of a 707 but I know the 767 is a medium sized plane. The 777, md-11 and l-1011 dwarf a 767. The 757 is smaller still for it's a narrow body. Well enough rambling
Regards. Ron.
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