Except that statement has this problem.
The NTSB would have you believe that Jet A fuel vapors are a virtual bomb waiting to go off, yet every day hundreds of 747's are sitting on hot runways in places like Saudi Arabia, India, etc. with empty center tanks and none have ever exploded.
Plus the fact that I've flown recently and the floor of the plane gets cold VERY quickly. It would need to be hot, in the air, to explode.
The tank was heated by the airconditioner unit that was under it on the runway.
That is a factually correct statement. For the most part, the problem has been engineered correctly. In fact, millions (billions?) of dollars and thousands of hours have been spent on designing aircraft based on the fact that everyone knows aircraft fuel tanks are a virtual bomb waiting to go off. Fortunately, the job has been done pretty well. But not perfectly. And there new guidelines, procedures and requirements being introduced to this day to minimize the opportunities for future explosions like the one that destroyed TWA 800.
"Plus the fact that I've flown recently and the floor of the plane gets cold VERY quickly. It would need to be hot, in the air, to explode."
No offense, but that is a classic example of a statement from someone who knows very little about what they are talking about, explaining away a situation that truly does exist, despite what "they've felt on the floor". Did you know for example, that beneath that floor is ducting that carries air hot enough to melt significant portions of the aircraft you are sitting in...the entire time you are flying in it.