[GingisK]

around 0.5 kiloton

The full weight of a 767 doesn't even come close to 500,000 tons, let alone the fuel load. In fact, the maximum takeoff weight of a 767 is 450,000 POUNDS, with the fuel capacity of 23,980 gallons. (.5Kt is 1 mega pounds) JP4 is pretty wimpy compared to TNT. That report was super duper wrong.

[Nowhere Man]

The full weight of a 767 doesn't even come close to 500,000 tons, let alone the fuel load. In fact, the maximum takeoff weight of a 767 is 450,000 POUNDS, with the fuel capacity of 23,980 gallons. (.5Kt is 1 mega pounds) JP4 is pretty wimpy compared to TNT. That report was super duper wrong.

I don't know, when you have a large quantity of jet fuel being spread out as the result of the impact, you have something like a fuel/air bomb and I think they could be taking that into account. I know there are some fuel/air bombs that can rival a small nuke. I know a couple of months ago, a house about a mile from me exploded due to natural gas and I felt the shockwave hit my house, I remember my mother wasking what is was and I had no idea until I heard it over the news and on my police scanner. I guess maybe half a kiloton might be a little much, maybe not.

[Southack]

"JP4 is pretty wimpy compared to TNT"

http://www.shell.ca/code/motoring/safety/facts.html

One cup of gasoline (a somewhat similar fuel to JP4) has the explosive power of 5 sticks of dynamite (1 inch diameter, 8 inches long).

[conservativewasp]

Your math is off, 500,000 tons is 500KT. .5KT is 500 tons or 1 million pounds. Combine the weight of the jet, the stored energy in the fuel and the speed of the aircraft and you can easily reach this energy level.