Passenger's Li-ion battery blamed for cabin fire on Bangkok-bound flight

[webfact]

Passenger's Li-ion battery blamed for cabin fire on Bangkok-bound flight
By Coconuts Bangkok


Photo: @Accone

A lithium ion battery was blamed for a fire which broke out yesterday on a Bangkok-bound flight from Amsterdam.

BANGKOK: -- Smoke began pouring into the cabin from a fire inside an overhead baggage compartment on the KLM plane before a flight attendant expertly extinguished it.

The plane had just touched down at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and no one was reported injured.

Video of cabin fire caused by battery in passenger's luggage on KL876 well managed by @KLM attendants. Veel Danke! pic.twitter.com/NKYThmf703
— SixContinentChick (@Accone) March 15, 2015

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/03/16/passengers-li-ion-battery-blamed-cabin-fire-bangkok-bound-flight


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2015-03-16

[NextStationBangkok]

May be the phone was still checking Facebook or Instgram in the flight!

The passenger should be fined for not switching off the phone!

I don't like to sit next to the lady checking her Facebook again.

[Prbkk]

On any given flight there are literally thousands of these batteries. They are in every phone, tablet, laptop, ipad. The rationale for hand carry only is that the the highly remote event of a malfunction the small fire is easily controlled in the cabin ( as in this case) whereas in the luggage hold it could potentially spread.

Some of the power packs have very large capacity...enough to recharge a phone 5 or 6 cycles.

[Strangebrew]

I always fly with long extension cord power cheaper back home.

[smedly]

as already mentioned if it was in a phone then the phone was not switched off - even then phones have a circuit to monitor battery temperature and will shut down if it reaches a certain level - maybe not all phones - cheap imitation from China may not

if it was a battery pack then it was active charging a device which in itself should not be dangerous unless it was a cheap substandard product without a safety circuit to monitor battery temperature

either way an investigation is needed to look into this

[dean008]

in the event of fire, please take out your phone and take photographs

[Dannyboy666]

So Lucky not in checked luggage, do they have fire suppresent in cargo hold???

[Prbkk]

So Lucky not in checked luggage, do they have fire suppresent in cargo hold???

They do but once in flight the hold cannot be accessed and sometimes the fire cannot be contained, eg UPS ( and others)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems

[rockingrobin]

as already mentioned if it was in a phone then the phone was not switched off - even then phones have a circuit to monitor battery temperature and will shut down if it reaches a certain level - maybe not all phones - cheap imitation from China may not

if it was a battery pack then it was active charging a device which in itself should not be dangerous unless it was a cheap substandard product without a safety circuit to monitor battery temperature

either way an investigation is needed to look into this

Your assumption that the phone has to be active is incorrect

These type of batteries have internal circuitry which if faulty can cause thermal runaway, it only needs the insulator between the anode and cathode to be compromised

[csabo]

So Lucky not in checked luggage, do they have fire suppresent in cargo hold???

God forbid but in all likelihood it was a battery pack charging a mobile device actively. While of course it is possible that someone would plug a phone into a battery pack and turn it on and put it in a bag designated for cargo it is unlikely. In this day and age all planes should be equipped with usb charging at every seat. It is a matter of time before one of these things starts a fire that brings down a plane. Nice work by the flight attendants who usually are the butt of jokes and hostility.

[smedly]

as already mentioned if it was in a phone then the phone was not switched off - even then phones have a circuit to monitor battery temperature and will shut down if it reaches a certain level - maybe not all phones - cheap imitation from China may not

if it was a battery pack then it was active charging a device which in itself should not be dangerous unless it was a cheap substandard product without a safety circuit to monitor battery temperature

either way an investigation is needed to look into this

Your assumption that the phone has to be active is incorrect

These type of batteries have internal circuitry which if faulty can cause thermal runaway, it only needs the insulator between the anode and cathode to be compromised

you are correct when it comes to laptop batteries but in phones the protection circuit is in the phone and switched off

[96tehtarp]

There are 100's of reports like this all over the net. If we can recall even the 787 aircraft had to be recalled by Boeing to address lithium ion battery fire problems.

[FredNL]

This story is in every Dutch newspaper. A Dutch filmcrew was on their way to Cambodia to record a program when a bag with an overheated battery caught fire.

That's all...

[SOTIRIOS]

...thanks for NO technical insight into the phenomenon......

[thefactoryoutlet]

And these useless ridiculous monkeys who control air traffic are still checking bags... for what ???

[Xircal]

This story is in every Dutch newspaper. A Dutch filmcrew was on their way to Cambodia to record a program when a bag with an overheated battery caught fire.

That's all...

Correct, and the battery was located in a drone, not a mobile phone. The drone belonged to a Dutch TV crew whose programme called "Op de proef gesteld" which means "Put to the test" was to be filmed in Cambodia.

[Pib]

Good it occurred while landing at Bangkok....now the person can just the battery back to Pantip Plaza for a refund.

[Eaglekott]

as already mentioned if it was in a phone then the phone was not switched off - even then phones have a circuit to monitor battery temperature and will shut down if it reaches a certain level - maybe not all phones - cheap imitation from China may not

if it was a battery pack then it was active charging a device which in itself should not be dangerous unless it was a cheap substandard product without a safety circuit to monitor battery temperature

either way an investigation is needed to look into this

Sorry but this is wrong a battery can fail even the phone is off. This happened to me with one of my Ericsson phones i got at home. Phone was off, and battery caught fire.

Same happened to a friend om mine with his Samsung Laptop. He always turn computer off, but sill it started to come smoke out of his computer bag from the back seat.

[Pib]

A lithium-ion protection circuity which is either built into the battery itself (overcharge/overvoltage protection, under-voltage protection, and thermal charging protection) and/or the device it's installed in will not stop the battery from failing/swelling/possibly catching on fire when there is a failure in the chemical or mechanical structure of the battery. By mechanical failure I mean the breakdown of certain barriers/insulation within the battery which keeps certain chemical components of the battery separated.

- The overcharge/overvoltage protection is to prevent the battery from charging past/over 4.2V for an extended time which can cause early or rapid battery failure

- The undervoltage protection is to to prevent the battery from dropping/discharging below approx 2V which can causing early battery failure

- The thermal protection is to prevent the battery from overheating due to overcharging

Note: where I say 4.2V and 2V above some of your are probably thinking well my laptop battery voltage is around 10 to 15V...well, your laptop battery pack is made up of a bunch of 3.6V lithium-ion batteries connected in series/parallel to give a certain voltage and amp-hour rating..

It's not uncommon for a lithium-ion battery to fail while the device is installed but the device is turned off and not charging purely due to chemical/mechanical degradation finally reaching the failure point....and it can either be a slow failure or fast failure. And of course it can fail while turned on/charging.

For those of you which have changed your cell phone battery most of them usually have three contact terminals. One is the positive voltage terminal, one the negative voltage terminal, and one is the thermal sensor terminal. If it's just a two terminal battery then those are your positive and negative terminals.

Yeap, a lithium-ion battery can fail while installed, charging, uninstalled, or not charging.

[dean008]

no try no buy no exchange no refund

Good it occurred while landing at Bangkok....now the person can just the battery back to Pantip Plaza for a refund.

[dean008]

in the picture are 2 flight attendants and 3 passengers who should have been instructed to sit down and get out of the way

So Lucky not in checked luggage, do they have fire suppresent in cargo hold???

God forbid but in all likelihood it was a battery pack charging a mobile device actively. While of course it is possible that someone would plug a phone into a battery pack and turn it on and put it in a bag designated for cargo it is unlikely. In this day and age all planes should be equipped with usb charging at every seat. It is a matter of time before one of these things starts a fire that brings down a plane. Nice work by the flight attendants who usually are the butt of jokes and hostility.

[pattayasnowman]

There are 100's of reports like this all over the net. If we can recall even the 787 aircraft had to be recalled by Boeing to address lithium ion battery fire problems.

This lithium ion battery fire problem on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has , to my knowledge, not been fully resolved.

The 'quick fix' by Boeing was to encase these Batteries in a steel box which is supposed to contain any fire. Well good luck with that.

[maidee]

i tought those power packs were illegal on planes?

[Pib]

There are 100's of reports like this all over the net. If we can recall even the 787 aircraft had to be recalled by Boeing to address lithium ion battery fire problems.

This lithium ion battery fire problem on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has , to my knowledge, not been fully resolved.

The 'quick fix' by Boeing was to encase these Batteries in a steel box which is supposed to contain any fire. Well good luck with that.

Or said another way, an internal battery failure...mechanical failure....breakdown of barriers/insulation within the battery causing an internal short.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lithium-ion-batteries-grounded-the-dreamliner/

In its assessment, the NTSB report criticized the battery manufacturer for faults in production. Though fire destroyed much of the afflicted cell, investigators said they suspected that a defect was introduced during production, causing a short-circuit. The report called for GS Yuasa to improve quality control and to test its batteries under more severe conditions.

NTSB also called out Boeing for assuming that an internal short-circuit within a battery would not cause a fire or affect other cells. This assumption meant that Boeing did not "incorporate design mitigations to limit the safety effects that could result in such a case," the report stated.

The report cited FAA for not requiring a thermal runaway test for the battery system for certifying aircraft components.

[mercman24]

interesting topic, and thanks for the heads up. dont think i will be stabbing my phone battery with a knife anytime soon..

[mike324]

as already mentioned if it was in a phone then the phone was not switched off - even then phones have a circuit to monitor battery temperature and will shut down if it reaches a certain level - maybe not all phones - cheap imitation from China may not

if it was a battery pack then it was active charging a device which in itself should not be dangerous unless it was a cheap substandard product without a safety circuit to monitor battery temperature

either way an investigation is needed to look into this

it does not have to be a cheap imitation phone from China to overheat, my Iphone 4 overheats sometimes when lots of programs are opened and not turned off

[Prbkk]

i tought those power packs were illegal on planes?

I was on a Malaysia Airlines flight a few days ago and they are selling them in the onboard duty free, including one with a capacity of about 10,000 mah ( ie very large). However I suspect (but far from expert on the matter) that there is a greater risk from inadvertently overloading USB ports to recharge with DC. This happened to me the other day on a dual usb adapter....and it got EXTREMELY hot . I binned it.

[harada]

There are 100's of reports like this all over the net. If we can recall even the 787 aircraft had to be recalled by Boeing to address lithium ion battery fire problems.

Apparently MH370 had 200 kilos of these in the luggage hold, perhaps the oil rig workers story of seeing a plane on fire might hold a bit of credability.