B52 Bomber to Fly on Coal

...That's what I thought as well! How can an airplane fly using coal? So I discovered that there is an experiment being conducted using a jet fuel produced from coal through a gasification process. It is being tested to see if a synthetic jet fuel prepared from goal or natural gas can measure up to the strict standards necessary to operate jet engines.

...If such a fuel could be manufactured, the cost would be comparable to the jet fuels produced from the high-priced crude oil. Producing it from coal would provide another avenue to break our dependence on foreign crude oil supplies. The US has the biggest source of coal in the world.

...As the cost of crude oil continues to rise, many other alternative fuels may also become financially attractive. It is such healthy competition in a capitalistic environment that may produce better alternatives to petroleum fuels.