Coffee Maker Recall 2010
Focus – are lithium ion batteries for the next threat to airline security?
In April, officials from the Tokyo police and the fire was precipitated a baggage area at Narita airport after a curling iron powered by a lithium-ion battery bag caused a passenger to explode in flames while being transferred from one American Airlines plane on a connecting flight.
Lithium batteries – the rechargeable power source for mobile phones, laptops and a growing number of portable electronic devices – is becoming a growing concern of airline passenger cabins and cargo holds. non-rechargeable lithium metal as cameras and flashlights are a concern, too.
When a lithium battery short circuit or overheats, it can ignite or explode. The fire cause may not be as easy as turning off a normal combustion fire.
FAA data show that the March 20, 1991, through August 3, 2010, batteries and battery-powered devices were involved in 113 incidents of "smoke, fire, extreme heat or explosion "in the passenger aircraft and cargo. Data are lithium batteries and lithium are not a complete list of these incidents, the agency says.
In January, the Department of Transportation proposes stricter rules for companies including lithium batteries in cargo holds. "The frequency incidents, together with the difficulty in extinguishing fires in lithium battery, ensures strong action, "Representative Jerry Costello, D-Ill., Chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, said the Transportation Department's proposal.
experts lithium-, security analysts and flight attendants ask, however, if more stringent standards are also needed in the airliner cabins to prevent fires or worse: a possible attack by a terrorist to bring down a plane by manipulating a large number of batteries to start a fire.
At this time, there is no limit to the number small lithium ion battery, a passenger may carry on board a flight.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee says FDA has examined the matter. She says the TSA, which oversees aviation security, has established that the lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones, laptops and cameras "can not be used as an explosive and are not a threat to personal security in hand luggage amounts."
But some scientists batteries have studied raise questions about the safety of the passengers are on board flights in their electronic devices, as small as those used for power mobile phones.
Xie Jian, a professor of mechanical engineering at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, says electronic devices laptops are "pretty safe" for consumers. But, he says, could be handled together by a bomb.
That's what worried attendees aboard the American Airlines (AMR) flight to Buenos Aires in June. The passenger, who spent more than 30 minutes in a bath and acted suspiciously before the flight began remove the batteries from cell phones and had lots of batteries, charging cell phones and devices on a tray table. Flight attendants reported of shares to the captain and told to confiscate the devices.
Xie, who is doing research on lithium-ion batteries for military, says it's "scary" a passenger with 50 or more electronic devices, including numerous ion batteries for mobile phones and laptops, addressed a plane. "I would be very uncomfortable on the flight," he says.
Amy Prieto, Colorado State professor of chemistry at the University also is an expert in lithium batteries, says several batteries can cause fires that difficult to carry out. But, he says, up to 50 batteries together fraudulent "no would be like a bomb down an airliner. "
Dan Abraham, a materials scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, says that even a battery single mobile phone could cause a fire. "A smart terrorist could cause a fire with these things," he says. "Any device energy storage packs a lot of energy in a small space and can be used for good or evil. "
Special precautions?
The former security director Billie Vincent FAA says TSA screeners should use common sense and call a supervisor when they see a lot of batteries and passenger electronics.
"Why would someone with so many batteries?" Vicente said. "If there is a need for special packaging for batteries in the cargo hold, why not take special precautions in the passenger cabin? "
Dinkar Mokadam of the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents more than 50,000 flight attendants at 22 airlines, says a rule must be established to limit the number of devices on board a passenger. These regulations do not apply "unless something catastrophic occurs," he says.
Despite the June incident, American Airlines has not taken a position public on the number of batteries passengers can carry onboard, says spokesman Tim Smith. However, says Smith, the flight crew in Buenos Aires "was exactly what they're trained to do. "suspicious behavior was observed and acted on it by confiscating phones and batteries passengers, says. The devices were delivered to "the Argentine authorities, who determined that the passenger was not a safety concern, but the intention of selling in Argentina.
Making Lithium-ion battery in an aircraft is "mostly" a matter of Hazardous Materials Management Federal Aviation says Adam Comis, press secretary for the House Committee on Homeland Security.
The FAA, which regulates the safety of flight, size batteries Lithium as hazardous materials because "the chemical hazards present and power" and are a fire hazard.
There have been several battery recalls ion batteries used in laptops and other consumer products "that can spontaneously overheat and cause a fire," spokeswoman Sasha FAA says Johnson.
But the FAA and its parent agency, the Department of Transportation, do not limit the number of lithium ion batteries for laptops, Some cell phones and other portable electronic devices carried by passengers on board. There is a limit to the other lithium batteries with a lithium content high.
Since April 1999 – when a shipment of lithium batteries caught fire after being kept out of a passenger plane cargo airport Los Angeles – the FAA has received reports of 40 fires lithium battery-powered devices for them, says Johnson.
The reports include:
• On September 9, 2009, a battery owned by American Airlines passenger during a flight fell and caught fire.
• On 8 August 2008 a passenger on an American flight from Washington to Dallas account your laptop was smoking. The passenger remove the battery ("battery Laptop>) and gave a flight attendant. The stewardess put the battery in a pot of coffee in the stern gallery and poured water and Sprite in it.
• On 04 March 2008, passengers device video display for viewing entertainment systems issued a "pen 10" sparks and waste "in the United Airlines (UAUA) flights from Chicago to Tokyo. The captain turned off the machine with water. A small area of carpet in the cabin passengers was harmed.
No extra batteries
FAA about fire hazards of lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries are so great that passengers are not allowed to put the parts in checked bags. They can, however, put them in checked bags if they are connected to an electronic device.
The Department of Transportation in January proposed shipments by manufacturers and distributors of batteries for laptops, mobile phones and many other portable devices will be included in strict hazardous materials standards for cargo holds.
Battery [ title = "Replacement laptop battery"> laptop batteries] manufacturers must keep the test results and safety design, and batteries must be safely packaged and stored more safely on airplanes, the rule says.
In passenger aircraft, which must be stored in cargo compartments are more resistant to fire with fire. FedEx (FDX) and other cargo planes, which should be stored in accessible areas pilots in case of fire.
A shipment of lithium ion batteries caught fire while being loaded onto a FedEx plane in the center of the company Memphis in August 2004. The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates air accidents, said the probable cause was not approved containers used by the shipper, AC Propulsion. The package "is insufficient" to protect the battery, the NTSB said.
The lithium-ion batteries were inside containers load when a fire destroyed a cargo of UPS (UPS) of the jet at the airport in Philadelphia in February 2006.
The NTSB said it could not determine what started the fire but the fire most likely started in one of three cargo containers containing lithium ion batteries, laptops and other electronic devices.
The trade association for manufacturers of lithium ion batteries, said it was very concerned about security, and batteries "Present a tiny risk of fire start."
Battery and electrical equipment manufacturers oppose the proposal of the rules of the Department of Transportation. They say that rules are expensive and more expensive than the Civil Aviation Organization, which sets standards of aviation authorities in 190 countries.
A restriction on the storage of cargo aircraft batteries can result in higher quantities shipped on passenger aircraft, said George Kerchner, executive director of the Portable Rechargeable Battery [ Battery drill] Association.
The Association of Airline Pilots, which represents nearly 53,000 pilots of American Airlines and Canada said that the proposed rules make flying safer for passengers and flight crews.
The union "would be positive that the implementation faster than the new standard, "says Mark Rogers, an expert dangerous union of assets.
Ryan Haidet anchors the AkronNewsNow.com Video Update for Thursday, May 20, 2010
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