Originally Posted by
capngrog
I can understand airport fire fighters boarding the aircraft, prior to passenger evacuation, to assess what was apparently reported as an extinguished or smoldering fire, but I can't understand the passengers being held in the onboard smoky environment for an hour afterwards. Methinks someone has some explaining to do.
I can sense the lawyers circling as we speak, since these poor passengers were forced to breathe contaminated air. All kidding aside, I would not be surprised if some PAX suffered genuine respiratory distress.
Cheers,
Grog
There are more than half a dozen litihum ion battery chemistries in fairly common use. All of them, when burning, produce rather copious quantities of hydrogen fluoride and phosporyl fluoride gases in the "smoke." Those gases are significantly toxic.
I wouldn't be a tiny bit surprised if pax and/or cabin crew suffered respiratory effects from breathing that stuff. I am rather surprised that ARFF crews wouldn't be especially aware of the potential problem and be prepared to clear the smoke/evacuate the aircraft ASAP.