“Told by other freepers that it’s darn near impossible to set off those tanks. Did he know that?”
He was a pilot, so he should have known Jet-A is hard to set off, in part by design.
Google Earth shows a dirt area that is open to vehicles right next to the tanks. A fence would have kept him at least 10 feet away from the tanks. I don’t need an answer - and maybe best not to reveal too much for the next nutcase. But I imagine that if you got enough explosives (like Tannerite) into your car - at some distance you would be able to impact a tank like that and cause a leak.
The tanks are 600 feet from the venue - I’m not sure how deadly that would be. Although with the rupture facing the crowd - perhaps.
Looking at GoogleEarth I can think of other places where I would park the car and know that it would do more damage.
Oh - the idea of the shooter pushing the people over towards the tanks. I had read where the first shots were at the stage, and then the next set of rounds was at the far exit to drive people back into the venue. Along with reports of the gal saying “You’re all going to die - we are everywhere” would reinforce that idea to those that heard her.
Actually Jet A is easier than gasoline. It all has to do with vapor pressure and oxygen mixture. Neither one is easy to make an explosion with in a closed container like a fuel tank. Gasoline will ignite on the ground much easier than Jet A. However, gasoline has a vapor pressure much lower than Jet A. Thus in a closed system the gasoline vapors will expel any air from the outside trying to get into the tank. It will not be explosive despite what the movies show. There "just aint" enought oxygen in the tanks to make it go bang.
The same thing can be said for Jet A but it has a higher vapor pressure than gasoline so its explosive potential is greater in a closed system.
Wouldn’t you need incendiary rounds for that?