Logged into youtube to check something out.

[4deck]

Ah thanks Kilo for clearing that up. Still trajic event though. What a way to go.

[Rhah]

Yep, an IL-76 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnsIGcZS-M&feature=related

[dedalos]

I don't know where you got your information, but it is false. It was a Caspian Airlines Tu 154. You didnt read 4decks link, so ill post it again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Airlines_Flight_7908

Or maybe you did not read the comment on that video.

Plane not in flames
Plane is not trying to land

But hey, don;t let that stop you from knowing everything

[gyrene81]

You realize that aluminum won't burn as a thick chunk, right?  It has to be a powder with a great deal of oxidizer (for instance, rust) to actually achieve that supremely hot burn.

-Penguin

penguin, sometimes you make way too easy. it's not a "thick chunk" that's being discussed. sheet aluminum will burn very easily as long as there is a source to provide the necessary heat...and the fumes are very toxic. once it has started the burn process, it can be very difficult to extinguish...the u.s. army found that lesson out in the early stages of the bradley fighting vehicle testing...and that's not thin sheet aluminum.

[colmbo]

Just because it catches fire doesnt mean its going to burn off and also in the video the tail is not on fire nothing is.. It was shot out of the sky thats why the explosion was there the debris

If you look a bit closer you'll notice the reason the tail isn't on fire is because it has separated from the fuselage.

[colmbo]

That video he posted was not of the TU154 that crashed it was of an iranian awacs that was shot down but the incedent with the tu154 did happen thats not just a video of it

The IL-76 wasn't shot down, it collided with an F5E.  It was during an airshow in Tehran.

[Babalonian]

That IL-76 had an interesting story too, it apparently was one of the two IL-76s that was in Iraq but that survived the first persian gulf war by fleeing and defecting to Iran ('91).  Iraq originally had three IL-76s modified with French assistance for AWACS, and one was destroyed in the first gulf war (by guess who ).  Was a mystery what Iran did with them until one of the two surviving Iraqi AWACS IL-76s showed up in 2009 in Iran as the "tanker" when it crashed due to a midair collision (the one in the youtube video... kinda obvious it was a military tanker and not a commercial airliner in the video, you can see the massive amounts of fuel being ejected out of it as it cartwheeles before it impacts the ground in that video). 

It is rumored that, possibly as a result of the crash involving the other, the second Iraqi IL-76 is no longer airworthy in Iran.  However it is also rumored that the two Iraqi IL-76s were upgraded for Iran via Russian technicians and came into service as Iran's only AWACS-capable aircraft in the spring of 2008 (and remember, these things have been in Iran since '91...  ).  If these two IL-76s were indeed their only AWACS aircraft I doubt they would of pulled out the remaining one due to a midair collision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Iranian_Air_Force_mid-air_collision

[Penguin]

penguin, sometimes you make way too easy. it's not a "thick chunk" that's being discussed. sheet aluminum will burn very easily as long as there is a source to provide the necessary heat...and the fumes are very toxic. once it has started the burn process, it can be very difficult to extinguish...the u.s. army found that lesson out in the early stages of the bradley fighting vehicle testing...and that's not thin sheet aluminum.

Hmm, perhaps I'm wrong.  Would you care to provide a link?

-Penguin

[68ZooM]

Hmm, perhaps I'm wrong.  Would you care to provide a link?

-Penguin

How about trying that thing called Google search, wealth of info right at your finger tips. 

[TequilaChaser]

Hmm, perhaps I'm wrong.  Would you care to provide a link?

-Penguin

I'll provide a link for gyrene's reply you quoted and request a link for

Aluminum once burning can be very hard to extinguish

here is a  US DOE internal archived paper  that  links for ya:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00831.htm

a quote from above link:

3. Aluminum metal (especially powdered) can react with water in the
presence of base or acid to produce hydrogen gas. Any modest amount of heat
or other energy source -- a match, a static spark, light, a cosmic ray!, and
so on will ignite the hydrogen which in turn will ignite any nearby
combustibles. The reactions are:
2 Al + 2 (OH -1) + H2O ----> Al2O3 + 2 H2
Al( metal) + 6 H( +1)  ----> 2Al( +3) + 3H2
         In these reactions it does not make much difference what the counter
ion is because these are general oxidation reactions of metals producing
hydrogen gas.
Aluminum foil will dissolve in either strong base or acid quite readily, and
in a confined space could get very hot, very quickly and set of the
combustion of hydrogen.
         It is also worth noting that these latter reactions may not be able
to be extinguished with EITHER water or CO2. The addition of water just
provides more "fuel" to the fire -- generating more heat than the cooling
effects of water. I am not sure about Al, but I have witnessed an attempt to
extinguish a sodium fire with a CO2 extinguisher, that caused the fire to
flare UP almost exploding. The reaction:


Vince Calder

I remember going through Aircraft Fire Fighting School in the Navy that we were taught to smoother the fire , and depending on where the fire was and what was burning, we had to decide which type retardant we had to use.. most times was the Hagon???? Foam spray extinguishing agent....... hell that was like 25 years ago so I might have the name wrong........

anyways


TC

[MrRiplEy[H]]

we had to decide which type retardant we had to use.. most times was the Hagon???? Foam spray extinguishing agent....... hell that was like 25 years ago so I might have the name wrong........

Could be halon gas, inert heavyer than air gas that's used to smother fires in ships, server rooms etc. where water damage must be avoided.

[Penguin]

Halon is banned by international treaty.

-Penguin

[gyrene81]

Halon is banned by international treaty.

-Penguin

        you really are full of...  ...go back to your toys...

http://www.epa.gov/Ozone/snap/fire/qa.html#qA1

you can learn more here
http://www.h3rcleanagents.com/support_faq_2.htm

production of halon was banned in developed nations in 1994...it's still being used and distributed in many of the countries that agreed to the ban from stockpiles and recycling efforts. several countries still actively produce it.

[Penguin]

Oops, my mistake.  I should have read more throughly.

-Penguin

[Shuffler]

It's OK penguin... we all make mistakes, heck I made one in 1983... or was that 84... hmmm