If a plane needs to make an emergency landing, will the dumping of fuel prevent an explosion?

Question

If a plane needs to make an emergency landing, will the dumping of fuel prevent an explosion?

Answer 1

Besides, it's the fumes that burn, not the liquid.

Answer 2

That's not the primary reason.  A fully fueled especially a long range aircraft is heavy when it tries to land without dumping fuel.  It is a safety procedure in some cases and depending upon the problem to make sure the tires don't blow when landing.  The fact that there is also less fuel to burn should the aircraft fail to make a safe landing is also a factor.  

.

Some shorter range aircraft don't have a system for fuel dumping because they are designed to land heavy as they are often called on to do when use in short range routes with multiple stops.

.

Answer 3

Dumping most of the fuel will help prevent a major fire since there is less fuel to burn.  However, the main reason why  airliners dump fuel before making an emergency landing is that while a plane is able to take off while carrying a full load of fuel, the plane is too heavy to land.  The stress on the landing gear and tires caused by all the weight  during landing would result in blowing the tires and collapse the landing gear.  Jet fuel is basically high grade kerosene and evaporates in the air when dumped, so it poses no threat to those on the ground.

Answer 4

Generally fuel dumping is done to reduce weight prior to an unscheduled landing, as many large aircraft will depart at a higher weight than their legal/safe landing weight.  An "explosion" would be caused by fuel vapors rather than liquid fuel, but even after dumping, enough Jet-A will remain to fuel a fire.  If the aircraft has dumped fuel and then returned to the airport, the landing should be more or less normal and not a "crash."

Answer 5

I doubt it would be necessary... if a plane crashes hard enough to explode the fuel tanks, the passengers are already likely to be dead. Spilling fuel around the area surely wouldn't help things.

Answer 6

An aircraft has a take-off and landing weight and if he is outside of this during T/O he can but he might use a lot of runway before he can rise. In the same way when he is not on his landing weight that is the time he jettisons fuel (dump). There is no connection of explosion, if he did not dump his fuel the aircraft structure might be at risk because of a hard landing but not necessarily explosion.