Emirates on fire

[paparomeodelta]

This is not hot news right out of the press, news are from 3 july, but I searched PPR and couldn´t find any exchange of experiences on this, so here we go.

Worrying since pax don´t have a clue when they pack...

Litium-batteri nära orsaka flygkrasch | Flyg | Resa | Aftonbladet (http://www.aftonbladet.se/resa/flyg/article15391199.ab)

Googletrans:

Lithium-battery near the cause plane crash
A lithium battery was in the summer close to causing an air disaster.
270 people were on board the Emirates flight-to July 3 forced an emergency landing in Chinese Urumqi.
Afterwards found several burnt-out bags in the cargo compartment.
The pilots on board the plane, a Boeing 777-300 en route from Beijing to Dubai, acted quickly and activated extinguishing system.
Then they asked to make an emergency landing in Urumqi where emergency services were prepared.
Everything went without mishap. In the most fire-ravaged bag then found the remains of a burned-out lithium battery.
Lithium batteries are commonly found in computers and cell phones and are known because they can overheat under extreme conditions.
113 incidents
Since 1991 and up to 2011 are 113 reported incidents with batteries that triggered the smoke, fire or extreme heat on aircraft.
It's okay to have batteries in the computer or for example in an Iphone, but they are now banned from checked baggage.
The pilots killed
And there is reason for the ban. Two plane crashes, both fatal, have been linked to just overheated lithium batteries.
A UPS cargo plane crashed in Dubai in autumn 2010 and both pilots were killed. A similar incident happened last year when a South Korean cargo, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747, crashed into the sea. Again killed the two pilots.
Incident with Emirates plane July 3 is considered the most serious incident on a passenger plane ever

[The African Dude]

Incident with Emirates plane July 3 is considered the most serious incident on a passenger plane ever

They have obviously never seen some of our crew food then! :E

[lomapaseo]

Good news, they have positive evidence of the source and how.

But what about the packaging standards and the cargo declarations?

[macdo]

Euro safety authorities are getting increasingly jumpy about the amount of Lithium batts on any given flight and the statistical chance of a cabin (or hold)fire. We have covered the subject in recent recurrent SEP's and even in the last sim sessions. A fatal accident just waiting to happen, unfortunately.

[Captain Calamity]

This really worries me too.

The energy density of modern lithium batteries is massive, and as a result they are being used more and more in modern electrical goods. Google "lithium polymer" and "explosion" to see what these batteries can do when roughly handled, say by being dropped onto the apron in a suitcase...

I regularly travel with a high power dive light in checked baggage. Even though the battery is a much safer type than a lithium battery it still stores enough energy to generate massive heat when switched on. I *always* double check the battery is physically disconnected from the light when I travel but perhaps that's because I know the consequences of a cargo fire in flight.

It scares me when I get on a plane full of divers heading to Sharm and wonder how many of them have been as careful.

[AlexanderH]

Even before I scrolled down through the article, I knew this had to be a flight coming from China.

I could go on for decades with stories of stuff the Chinese try putting into their hold luggage.

The most recent one - two Chinese girls caught with zippo lighter fluid (and a lot of it) in their luggage when I was boarding a flight from Beijing to London. And they didn't seem to think there was a problem!

It's a miracle that there are 1.4 billion of them.

[500N]

Captain Calamity

Interesting point. The sheer volume of Lithium batteries now around
for all devices especially torches - and some of the "cheap, unregulated"
batteries from China leave a bit to be desired in terms of quality.

[Airbubba]

The sheer volume of Lithium batteries now around for all devices especially torches - and some of the "cheap, unregulated" batteries from China leave a bit to be desired in terms of quality.

Some good anecdotal background on that issue here:

Smoke and Fire, Hot Cells and Close Calls - The dangerous side of batteries (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?107-Smoke-and-Fire-Hot-Cells-and-Close-Calls-The-dangerous-side-of-batteries)

[500N]

I buy torches and batteries in China and rechargeable one's, the difference between quality and not is amazing and the heat generated from unregulated batteries when charging, even I keep an eye on them at home and won't leave them charging if I am not around.

[Desert Dawg]

This was discussed in the Middle East forum a few days after the incident. That thread no longer exists because the page count on threads only goes to 4 pages (the original thread will most likely be on page 9 by now).

EDIT: Thread here http://www.pprune.org/middle-east/489502-emirates-cargo-fire-2.html

It was professionally dealt with and all on-board halon systems worked as designed to extinguish the small fire whilst en route to Urumqi divert.

Job well executed by the crew and a safe outcome for all passengers.:ok:

@AlexanderH

The flight originated in DXB not China.

[Gulfstreamaviator]

Me thinks this is the wrong gas.......

[AlexanderH]

Did it not say the flight originated from Beijing??

Either way it doesn't really matter.

[Heathrow Cargo]

The is a major problem with the Dangerous Goods Regulations for Lithium batteries. Firstly the regulations are difficult to understand, secondly many manufactuers of equipment that contain these batteries are not aware that there are any restrictions. There is also a serious lack of knowledge amongst the airfreight industry and it is highly likely that many items are in the holds of your aircraft every day undeclared!

[Desert Dawg]

Edited my post accordingly!:}

[500N]

"and it is highly likely that many items are in the holds of your aircraft every day undeclared!"

That would be true.

The level of knowledge of the general population of what type of batteries their devices use is very low and most seem to buy on price not quality as they don't know how to evaluate between the two.

[lomapaseo]

I no longer buy this stuff directly in China.

best to wait for it to hit the stalls in the local bazzar :}

[angels]

Blimey, this is a rather worrying thread. :eek:

[Piper_Driver]

As an electrical engineer I can tell you that those cheap sources of batteries are exactly the problem. The reason that some of these batteries are so cheap is that they leave out protection circuits that are intended to shut things down in case of a fault so that no overheating (fires) can occur. Consumers can't tell the difference between batteries with and without the safety circuits. They buy on price alone.

I seriously doubt if any of the "review" sites even care about this aspect of safe product design. Only reputable manufacturers such as brand name PC product vendors care because their brand name is likely to be damaged if they sell products that catch on fire.