Worried about a possible terrorist strike, American Airlines flight attendants confiscated 58 cell phones, lithium-Ion battery and charging the device from a passenger on a flight June 23 New York Buenos Aires.
April, Tokyo police officers and firefighters rushed to an area at Narita airport baggage after a curling iron powered by a lithium-Ion battery checked bag caused a passenger to fire was being shuttled from an American Airlines jet a connecting flight.
Lithium-Ion batteries – the rechargeable energy source for cell phones, laptop computers and an increasing number of other portable electronic devices – has become a growing concern for the airlines in passenger cabins and cargo holds . Non-rechargeable lithium metal batteries such as cameras and flashlights are a concern, too.
When a lithium battery short-circuits or overheats, it can burn or explode. The fire cause may not be as easy to kill as a normal combustion fire.
Federal Aviation Administration indicate that information from on March 20, 1991, through of August 3, 2010, batteries and battery-powered devices are involved in 113 incidents in the “ smoke, fire, extreme heat or pagsabog”sa passengers and cargo the plane. The data are for non-lithium and lithium batteries and not a comprehensive list of such circumstances, the agency says.
In January, the Department of Transportation proposed strict rules for companies that ship cargo holds in lithium batteries. “ The frequency of events, including the difficulty in extinguishing lithium-battery fire, warrants taking strong action,”Rep. Jerry Costello, D-ill., Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said the Transportation Department’s proposal.
Lithium-battery experts, security analysts and flight attendants wonder, though, if restrictive policies are also needed passenger aircraft cabins to prevent fire or worse: a possible attempt by a terrorist to bring down a plane of rigging a large number of batteries together to start a fire.
Right now, there is no limit on how many small lithium-Ion battery can take a passenger ride a flight.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee says the agency has studied the matter. She says the TSA, which oversees the security of air, defined lithium-Ion batteries for cell phones, laptops and cameras “ can not be used as an explosive and not a security threat to personal carry-on volume. ” ‘
But some scientists who have studied the batteries raise doubts about the safety of passengers carry on board flights in their electronic devices, even those as small as those used to power cell phones.
Xie Jian, a mechanical engineering professor at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, said portable electronic device is “ pretty ligtas”para consumers. But, he says, can they be rigged together for a bomb.
That’s what worried the flight attendants on board American Airlines to Buenos Aires in June. The passengers, who spent more than 30 minutes in a toilet and proper suspicion earlier flight, began going from the batteries of cell phones and had lots of batteries, cell phones and devices on a charge tray table. Flight attendants reported that her actions and told the captain is to confiscate the device.
Xie, who makes lithium-Ion battery research for the military, says it is “ nakakatakot”na a passenger with 50 or so electronic devices, including many lithium-Ion batteries for cell phones and laptops, boarded an aircraft. “ I would be very uncomfortable on that flight,”he said.
Amy Prieto, a Colorado State University chemistry professor who is also a lithium battery-expert, says some batteries can start fires that would be difficult to put out. But, he says, even 50 batteries rigged together “would not be such a bomb would take down a plane.”
Dan Abraham, a materials scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, says even a single cell phone battery may start a fire. “ A smart terrorist can start fires in these things,”he said. “ Any energy-storage device packs a lot of energy into a small space and can be used for good or bad.”
Former FAA security director Billie Vincent says TSA screeners need to use common sense and call a supervisor when they saw a passenger with a lot of batteries and electronic devices.
“Why would someone with so many batteries?”Said Vincent. “ If there is a need for special packaging for the batteries to hold charge, why is there no special precautions in passenger cabin?”
Dinkar Mokadam the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents more than 50,000 flight attendants at 22 airlines, says a rule should be established to limit the number of devices that a passenger carries on board. This regulation will not be implemented unless there is “ catastrophic happening,”he said.
Despite the incident in June, American Airlines has not taken a public position on the number of batteries passengers can bring on board, says spokesman Tim Smith. However, according to Smith, the crew in Buenos Aires flight was “ exactly as they are trained to do.”They observed suspicious behavior and correct it by confiscating phones the passengers and batteries, he says. The device is turned over “ Argentine authorities,”referring to passengers is not a security concern but intended to sell them in Argentina.
Lithium-Ion battery carried on an aircraft is “ a dangerous issue karamihan”ng materials for the FAA, says Adam Comis, press secretary for the House Committee on Homeland Security.
The FAA, which regulates flight safety, classifies lithium batteries as hazardous materials because they “ current chemical and electrical at”ay risk a fire hazard.
There have been several recalls of lithium-Ion batteries used in laptops and other consumer products that can be “ spontaneously overheat and cause a fire,”FAA spokeswoman says Sasha Johnson.
But the FAA and its parent agency, the Department of Transportation, do not limit the number of lithium-Ion batteries for laptops, cell phones and some other portable electronic devices that passengers carry on board. There is a limit for other lithium batteries with higher lithium content.
April 1999 – when a shipment of lithium batteries caught fire then was taken out of the cargo hold of a passenger plane’s in the Los Angeles International Airport – the FAA has received reports of 40 fires involving lithium batteries and devices powered by them, says Johnson.