In a safety alert, Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration again warned airlines of the risk of lithium batteries carried onboard planes by passengers and crew members.
\nCell phones, laptops, portable power banks, e-cigarettes, and hearing aids are just some of the many devices with the batteries that could malfunction, create a \u2018thermal runaway\u2019 and ignite a fire.
\n\u201cLithium batteries stored in passenger overhead bins and or in carry-on baggage, may be obscured, difficult to access, or not readily monitored by passengers or crewmembers,\u201d the alert notes. \u201cBecause of this, detection of thermal runaway and firefighting measures may be delayed in flight, increasing the risk to safety.\u201d
\nThe alert comes days after the FAA demonstrated for CNN how a thermal runaway in a battery power pack in a seat back pocket could suddenly launch a violent shower of sparks and ignite a fire.
\n\u201cUse of Halon extinguishers can briefly suppress open flames, however they do not halt the thermal runaway process,\u201d the FAA notes in the alert. \u201cThe primary response involves using large amounts of water to cool the battery and suppress flames.\u201d
\nThe FAA tracked 50 verified battery related incidents through August, according to the agency\u2019s statistics.
\nThe alert encourages airlines to \u201cconsider the hazard posed by the stowage of lithium batteries in areas not visible or easily accessible to passengers or crewmembers, such as in overhead bins or in carry-on baggage.\u201d
\nSouthwest Airlines is currently the only major U.S. carrier which requires portable chargers and power banks to be \u201cin plain sight\u201d if they are being used during flight.
\nGenerally, spare lithium batteries are prohibited in all checked baggage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a safety alert, Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration again warned airlines of the risk of lithium batteries carried onboard planes by passengers and crew members. Cell phones, laptops, portable power banks, e-cigarettes, and hearing aids are just some of the many devices with the batteries that could malfunction, create a \u2018thermal runaway\u2019 and ignite …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":null,"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[96,98,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-companies","category-featured-en"],"yoast_head":"\n