A former flight student of ours had a fuel fire while refuelling
an airplane with plastic cans in Alaska. Cold air equals dry air, which
is worse for static buildup, and cold air reduces the evaporation rate
of the fuel, making a more combustible mixture around the filler neck
and inside the can as air replaces the fuel. It's not quite the same as
fuelling your lawn mower on a warm summer afternoon with a quart or two
of fuel. Longer pours can cause a higher static buildup.
Those red plastic jerry cans are apparently made of a
static-resistant material. I sure wouldn't want to carry fuel in other
non-fuel types of plastic containers.


Dan (from Alberta, where winter is sometimes seven months
long)