Thanks to the randomness of youtube, I found this guy debunking a video he found which says that airliners run on compressed air, and don't use the tons of fuel which the passengers are being "duped" into paying for. I found it amusing, not to mention I love the Welsh accent when they speak English.  Brilliant!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPffEJmdB7I

 

Yeah, that claptrap has been around for ages.

I told the guy who spouts that nonsense that he needed to explain what was going on on this occasion: Someone forgot to close the refuelling valve on the port wing of an airliner on stand 26 at Manchester some time ago, and then the fuel truck guy, unaware of this, started fueling it on the starboard side, with predictably messy results from high pressure fuel spraying out of the port wing all over the stand, causing that entire side of the pier to be closed for hours while it was cleaned up, and making the ramp around there stink of jet fuel (even more than normally) for about a week.

Or perhaps explain why when lightning struck the fuel pipeline from the dump at EGCC, cutting off fuel to all the stands at Manchester one weekend, it caused such a massive disruption, if as he claims, the fuel that pipeline pumps is a fake. Or why the ATC and pilots were all arguing about who would get the small amount of fuel which was in one of the very few actual tankers there was at the airport, or why aeroplanes were taking off from Manchester, flying to Liverpool to refuel and then taking off again because they couldn't get fuel at EGCC. On that weekend, I'm sure he'd have loved to join me and just one other guy in loading and unloading a SAS B737 on stand 65 in that boiling heat a total of four times, where I actually stripped down to no top at all but just a high vis vest, because they kept changing the flight plan and it was tropically hot in the holds. Or maybe he'd have enjoyed helping me fully service and despatch an A321 on stand 11 completely on my own because everyone was running around trying to sort stuff out because of that fuel shortage and we were massively shortstaffed.

Or he might explain why there is a big emergency fuel cut off button at the head of each stand which if you press it, cuts off the underground pipes to each stand in case there is a fire on stand. Or why we had to do loads of training on those systems so we could do load plans properly, etc.

As conspiracy theories go, it is one of the more stupid ones and goes beyond mere ignorance into full-on crackpot territory.

1 hour ago, Chock said:

As conspiracy theories go, it is one of the more stupid ones and goes beyond mere ignorance into full-on crackpot territory.

Perhaps; but this is the Golden Age of uninformed opinion.  

Proving once again that stupid never sleeps. And those 36 years I worked for an airline I thought that was Jet A they were pumping out of those trucks.

No! The fuel is real! It's the jets that aren't real!!! They are a holographic projection. 😡

5 hours ago, Chock said:

As conspiracy theories go, it is one of the more stupid ones and goes beyond mere ignorance into full-on crackpot territory.

Exactly why I enjoyed Creaky Blinder (not an aviation geek) debunking it  He does a good number on Flat Earthers too. 

On 10/21/2020 at 9:26 AM, CYXR said:

Perhaps; but this is the Golden Age of uninformed opinion.  

Uninformed opinion that, unfortunately,  gives the lemmings their marching orders.

Noel

Everyone knows that planes run on Chemtrail juice!

Indeed, Dave! I have discovered that these days the most commonly found label for chemtrail juice is JET A-1, back in the 40's it was avgas..  

44 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Indeed, Dave! I have discovered that these days the most commonly found label for chemtrail juice is JET A-1, back in the 40's it was avgas..  

All lies!  That's what they would have you believe!  And whatnot...😅