I think the threat of lithium batteries has not been adequately addressed in the industry. My belief is, like anything else, we have not had an accident bad enough to warrant real action; but I believe we will.
2 incidents I was made aware of at a Cessna service center in Florida. They talked of 2 lithium power laptop/notepad devices which experienced lithium battery ruptures. One incident the airplane was on the ramp with no flight pending. As the crew member worked on charts the battery ruptured and they were able to get it off the airplane and throw it on the tarmac. A second very similar incident where the crew was doing updates sitting in the cockpit. They were a little slower to get the laptop off the airplane and the crew member sustained burns to the legs when his pants were ignited.
One of the WORST things you can do with a lithium battery fire is throw water on it. It mixes with the chemicals released and creates more hydrogen making a bad situation quickly lethal!
I tried bringing the issue up in our flight organization which uses many laptops and flight aids for charts. My chief pilot (who is pays people to change the oil in his lawnmower because he does not know how) told me I don't have the experience he and the others have and should shut up. He also was very upset with me because I would not fly below glide path approaches. We operated out of a 5000' strip and according to him and a few others you can make shorter landings de-tasseling corn in a low as possible approaches. When I demonstrated the opposite I was told since I came form a King Air background I did not know hot to fly jets like they did and was, in anger, ordered to fly bellow glide path approaches! Later our company had "anonymous" evaluations of our department where we evaluated the department and our supervisors. I gave him low marks in many areas. Soon after that I was let go with no reason.
But that is why I say the lithium battery problem will not be properly addressed until there is an adequate accident to warrant change.
Here is the problem. Once a lithium based battery starts it's melt down, it can't be stopped; very much like a Nicad battery. I am not well versed on how a fire extinguishers work but I know some have to be avoided.
Water is the absolute worst thing you can throw on a Lithium battery; even if just hot. If ANY material is pushed outside the wrapper it will ignite immediately.
Google 3 things;
lithium batter fire
Lithium Laptop fire
Lithium battery fire water
It becomes quite clear how bad the dangers are. Dealing with these batteries in the hobby world, lithium batteries are ALWAYS charged in a containment container, near a door, and always supervised until cool. I have personally ignited 2 battery packs myself by improper charging (my fault). Immediately out the door and thrown in the yard.I have a friend who has also done so and as he ran out the door the ooze leaking from the battery set his couch and carpet on fire. This was a pack about 1/4 the size of a laptop battery.
Have you ever seen robot wars? I was reading an article where they go on no matter what the damage. They can contain the fires and such in the metal arenas. What they cannot contain is lithium smoke. Even in a stadium, a lithium battery fire often requires stopping the event and evacuating the stadium till the smoke is cleared. Even the techs can't go in to put out the fire till the smoke is cleared in some fashion. The smoke is THAT BAD!
The preferred method to putting out a lithium fire is covering it in sand.
A battery fire clears a stadium, burns couches, carpets, requires fans to clear smoke before you can enter, NONE of these buildings are at FL400 in a confined compartment with NO ESCAPE!!
I personally would call on the aviation community to have a proactive search for how to deal with this. I have ideas but no answers. Answers would require testing, experimentation and a group effort.
My suggestions in our department were
1. Create some solutions
2. Test the solutions
My thoughts should this happen in a aircraft cockpit or cabin,
1. Remove from cockpit
2. Open largest metal container such as stainless ice bucket.
3. Wipe bucket dry quickly
4. Pull carpet back on floor
5. Put laptop in dry steel ice bucket, hit with extinguisher if we find this works in testing,
6. Turn laptop and bucket upside down and seal against metal floor as best you can to contain smoke
This is just procedures for handling the laptop to contain fire and smoke. Obviously the crew would be running their procedures for smoke and getting the airplane on the ground.
I was told to drop it because it was not my position to bring up such things and it makes the people who had been there for some time jealous (that was his exact words). If 50% of the flight departments took this seriously, you still have 50% where there is no avenue to even discuss such a thing. Quite often the people in charge of this stuff got in their position not because they know what they are doing but because they don't. To make up for what they lack in technical understanding they make up for in kissing ass and playing golf! They will run an aircraft off the runway some time. Sever of the guys struggle with what they do and I am glad I am not there any more.
In the future, after we have a major disaster or two I see two changes.
1. Containment boxes and procedures for all aircraft big and small.
2. Containment slots in larger aircraft where things like portable devices can be dropped into and contained OR even released from aircraft.
Other things to think about:
1. There are several types of lithium batteries and they are not all the same
2. If Lithium's were such a great improvement to power in a small package, what will be the next power improvement? We will be dealing with new high powered sources in small containers for here on out.
But what do I know......I can change my own oil! I know that much!