Perhaps an unlikely aviation news source, the Tobacco Reporter, posted this week that battery thermal-runaway incidents on aircraft reached a five-year high in 2023, with e-cigarettes topping the list of causes. The information came from a report from the non-profit UL Standards and Engagement (ULSE), an organization focused on safety standards.
The good news is that close to 90% of incidents involve devices stored near the passenger’s seat, making them easier to detect before the device explodes or a fire ignites.
!!! Since the issue affects aircraft safety, I think that this sentence really means:
The bad news is that more that 10% of incidents involve devices stored remote from the passenger’s seat, making them more difficult to detect before the device explodes or a fire ignites.
Completely agree. That 10% is evidence that simply having pax verbally or virtually attest to their checked baggage not containing lithium batteries, is insufficient.
“portable chargers” This item is a non battery device. An unused charger will never start a fire. A charger that uses a battery is called a battery bank. They are usually one cell. Fires can only occur during charging or discharging and in rare cases when damaged. If the luggage was ever damaged and damaged a battery, I doubt if any record was kept!
Batteries use solid oxygen as an oxidizer which is safe unless the cell over heats. This would cause the solid O2 to vaporize and could ignite. The danger will pass when the O2 is used up. A good safety method would be a fireproof bag for battery devices. The airlines could rent them if they wanted to quit crying about batteries!
This article states that battery related incidents are “increasing,” but does not give any report of how many of these incidents have actually occurred. Is it 5, or 500? Reporting the actual number of incidents would help the reader to determine if this is a real problem for aviation, or, another “tempest in a teapot.” Facts are important!
Anyone know if there’s a device that can detect Li ion batteries in checked luggage? If so, TSA could add that to the other checks they do on every piece of checked luggage.