Lithium batteries on airplanes pose 'increased fire risk'-BBC

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2/3/14, "Batteries on planes pose 'increased fire risk'," BBC, Richard Westcott

"In June last year, police at San Diego International Airport noticed a passenger's bag was smoking as it journeyed around the carousel. Inside, a lithium-ion battery

had touched a screwdriver and both had melted.

In September 2012, a flight attendant and two passengers were burned when they handled a mobile phone and spare battery that overheated during a flight.

In April 2012 a lithium battery inside someone's personal air purifier caught fire at 28,000ft.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report says "a flight attendant described a shooting fire from a passenger's device at about the same time that the captain felt a small thud".

The battery lay burning in the aisle until the quick-thinking flight attendant put it out with wet towels then shoved it into a cup of water to cool it down.

And all that is just on American aircraft.

'Significant risk'
 
A recent estimate said that the average small plane carrying 100 passengers could have 500 lithium batteries on board when you tot up all the watches, laptops, cameras, e-readers, tablet computers and suchlike.

Now the UK's safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has told the BBC that the huge growth in people carrying lithium batteries on aircraft poses a growing fire risk."...



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