iPad explosion SCREEN not battery
 

A pilot here [KSBA] just had his iPad SCREEN - not battery - explode at 14,500 feet in an SR22. Turns out Apple does not guarantee iPads about 10,000 feet. Fancy that! There are probably many iPads and running ForeFlight above 10,000 feet. Google for exploding iPads and you don't come up with anything in this area. Anyone else have a problem?

Apple will need a whole lot more information.
Did the iPad overheat?
Did he tap it with a sharp implement like a pen?
Did he have it mounted in a location with a lot of vibration cause harmonics?
Charging with an aftermarket charger?
iPads are universally approved by the FAA for use as EFB's in passenger carrying aircraft.
I seriously doubt they would have done that if they're going to violently explode when there's a decompression.
I'm having doubts about this story.

I fly regularly to FL180 with my iPads and iPhones in a non-compressed cockpit - never had a problem. On occasions they have even got so hot (due to being in sun) that they have gone into overheat shutdown mode. I should think many thousands of iPads have spent many thousands of hours in the unpressurised holds of jet aircraft too.

iPad and iPhone screens are made of toughened glass. While this makes them very resistant to damage, when they do break, they generally shatter into thousands of small pieces. One of the more peculiar features is that even after the glass has shattered, quite often the screen remains functional with a display still visible behind the shattered glass layer. It is possible to still operate the iPad with a pointing device, not a finger due to the risk of cuts from the glass shards.

Over a period of prolonged use, the battery packs in iPads and iPhones can deteriorate, just as in any other brand of Lithium ion battery powered product and the battery packs begin to swell from gassing from the materials inside starting to break down. A certain amount of gas is generated during normal charge and discharge cycles and the batteries are built to cope with that. As the battery ages, or is operated under stressful conditions, high altitude, high temperature, high discharge rate, more gas may be generated than the battery was designed to cope with and the battery pack begins to swell.

The first signs of battery pack swelling may be slightly discoloured patches on the screen of the display. The iPad or iPhone will feel hot to the touch as excess heat is being generated. The screen display may lift from the casing along one edge as the adhesive sealing the screen to the casing is forced apart. If the adhesive does not separate, stress will build until the glass of the screen suddenly ruptures. This is a very rapid event that may appear "explosive" in nature, but it is exactly the same process as occurs when a toughened glass car windscreen shatters. There is a bang and the glass fragments into innumerable shards.

When an iPad is operated with the GPS module activated, significant current is drawn from the battery pack. Most users find that an external supply is needed to keep the iPad operating for any reasonable time under these conditions. The iPad certainly gets warm to the touch.

We don't know how old the device being used was, or how long it had been used in GPS mode. It is reasonable to assume that this was a common practice given the circumstances described. High altitude, hot conditions, a battery being heavily discharged and kept going by an external power source. The rarified air at altitude also reduces the efficiency of thermal cooling. All of these things factor to make screen failure increasingly likely as the device ages.

This is not an unexpected failure mode and it is probably a fair assumption that the iPad was being operated outside of the manufacturers guidelines. iPads and iPhones are not hermetically sealed, so the effects of altitude alone are effectively harmless apart from reduced cooling efficiency.

If anyone wishes to demonstrate just how much power drain portable devices suffer when using GPS functions constantly, just use a constantly updating mapping program, or one of the popular GPS location based games such as Pokémon Go. A fully charged phone will completely discharge the battery in about two hours, an iPad may soldier in for an extra hour or so given the larger battery. Under more normal conditions, these devices will operate continuously for ten hours or more, hence the popularity of external battery packs.

Considering the number of devices in use, these incidents are comparitively rare, but they can and do happen. It is important to always consider such a failure as a possiblity when flight planning and have an alternative means of navigation planned for and to hand should such a failure occur.

>> I'm having doubts about this story. <<

Details:

>>I am an MD, 57-year-old GA pilot who’s been flying since
>>age 16. SEL, MEL, IFR, etc. etc… > 4000hrs"
>>Flew in my SR22T to Portland for first time 2 weeks ago at 14.5k.
>>iPad gave me “CAUTION ABOVE 12,000FT” WARNING and exploded.
>>Turns out iPad is not certified to be used above 10,000ft. Voids warranty also BTW.

I checked and it was the screen that disintegrated, nothing to do with the battery.

I know the individual slightly, he belongs to a Santa Barbara pilot group meets monthly for lunch. This is first hand, not a rumor.

But the points raised here are all very relevant, I'll get back to him and we are going to run some iPads in a benchtop altitude chamber. We'll let you know. THANKS…

Chances are, this iPad had prior damage (possibly unnoticed).

Apple has sold something like 350 million iPads. The number of screen "explosions" due to altitude issues? Close to zero.

Also the 10,000 ft operating limit has been standard for virtually all consumer computing devices (laptops, tablets, even iPods, etc.) That's partly because consumer-grade hard drives may fail if operated above this altitude. Most devices with modern solid state storage will work well above this altitude but the manufacturer isn't obligated to guarantee it.

This is encouraging! But ppekay4 how do you know the number of screen explosions is zero? THANKS everyone.

There is nothing inherent in the way that the screens are constructed that could cause a failure as described solely due to altitude.

The battery packs are a different matter since they are formed of sheets of materials and an electrolyte packed into a relatively flexible outer package.

The battery pack can and does swell as atmospheric pressure is reduced or due to temperature increases. A bit of extra space is designed within the casing of Lithium ion battery powered devices to cope with this expansion. That is why the battery packs are firmly glued inside most devices to stop them moving and to provide an efficient thermal path for cooling.

I have personally experienced the deterioration process twice and observed the screen discolouration effects, a screen unexpectedly shattering in one case and the screen being lifted from the casing in another. Both times were due to an aged battery swelling and applying pressure to the back of the screen.

The process occurs over a period of perhaps six weeks from the point where the battery pack starts to swell and cause the slightly darker blotch along or across the display screen. Higher temperatures seem to speed up the process slightly, but have a slight remedial effect in that they act to soften the glue holding the screen in place. So the screen may lift and separate from the casing in a controlled manner, rather than shattering from increased internal stress applied by the battery.

Low atmospheric pressure, i.e. altitudes above 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) results in decreased cooling efficiency of all electronic components. However in the case of a deteriorating battery pack that has begun to gas excessively, the gas trapped in the packaging will undoubtably expand and cause the battery casing materials to swell. This is the underlying root cause of the failure and the reason behind the advice not to operate Lithium ion powered devices with internal battery packs above a certain altitude.

The reality is that a new device with a fresh battery would probably operate just fine up to perhaps 30,000 feet, while a device that had been heavily used over two or three years could be expected to fail at less than half that altitude.

One possible solution would be to remove the internal Lithium ion battery packs and operate the device from external power sources only. Portability could be maintained by using an external battery pack made up of good quality 18650 metal cased batteries as these are more robust with regards to swelling due to altitude changes. Replacing the external battery pack every year would be a relatively cheap way of ensuring safety and optimum battery performance.

Operating directly from the aircraft power supply is possible using a suitable voltage converter, but not recommended as aircraft power can be electrically noisy, or fail unexpectedly. One less thing to worry about in an emergency if the nav screen information remains visible.

It's interesting that anyone would say "iPads are not certified for use above 10,000ft".

I'm sceptical that this is the truth. Many major airlines, including my own, have formally approved the full-time inflight pilot use of iPads for operationally critical information including flight planning, departure and approach charts, FCOM reference (including emergency procedures), takeoff and landing performance data, and so on.

If we were to have a pressurisation malfunction or a decompression and the cabin altitude was to rise above 10,000ft with the likelihood of an iPad "explosion", then a lot of airlines could be in a lot of trouble. It's very hard to believe that none of them - not a single one - hasn't already ensured that the iPad is safe to use through the full range of operational and emergency scenarios.

One thing my airline does specify in written SOPs though, is that the charger and cable (which is allowed to be connected to any 110V-240V cockpit power socket) must be genuine Apple products.

Same here, no Chinese knock off chargers and cables allowed.
FAA approval is based on only using original Apple.

What a load of bollocks. I have had iPads above 12000' cabin altitude and there is no such warning. I've also spent weeks with them living at over 14000' at times up to 16000', downloading photos from cameras and doing other high workload tasks.

Secondly, I have a document here showing Airbus testing the iPad to 50,000' for 20 minutes. This document forms part of the iPad EFB certification of the airline(s) to use them in the Airbus cockpit. I'm sure Boeing have similar.

Again, I call that screen explosion due to altitude malicious scaremongering crap.


And from apple's own website: That is NOT a limitation and exceeding it is not a warranty voiding event. That's just the tested range. Two very very different things.

That's NOT a warning from iPad. That's simply a reminder from ForeFlight about the 12,000 ft oxygen requirement (from FAR 135.89), and has nothing to do with the iPad's physical limitations.

Depends on the model. For older generation iPads, Apple did specify a maximum operating altitude (screenshot below):

http://i.imgur.com/VXzRjkn.png

However, all iPad models -- back to the original model introduced in 2010 -- have been shown to comply with FAA environmental condition standards (RTCA DO-160) -- which includes rapid decompression testing to 51,000 ft.

Yes, peekay, but I can't imagine a private pilot with own aircraft who needs to tell us that he's a doctor in his account having an old iPad! :)

Under DO-160 F/G Category D2 is unpressurised ambient to 50,000. I haven't got the latest (small) iPad Pro certification results to hand, but I expect that its tests passed the same.

Just because a manufacturer provides limitations on the conditions under which its devices are guaranteed to function correctly, it does not mean that the device will not continue to function at greater extremes, just that correct operation cannot be assumed.

Should a malfunction or failure occur outside the manufacturers guidelines for operation, then the user assumes all the risks arising from that use.

Which is why regulators demand - and manufacturers conduct- independent testing.

To reiterate:

I was wondering as I read that what possible relevance being an MD had to the failure.

Didn't you know that all MDs are omniscient?

If that's true, why didn't he know that the ipad would explode and stay at a lower altitude? Or am I confusing omniscient with prescient? :E

iPad expansion during Garmin Pilot use
 

I use my iPad in my unpressurized T310R and above 12,000 ft to 17,000 ft cabin altitude the front of the iPad will expand about 1/8 of an inch out of the case and become very warm. After the flight and after descending below 10,000 ft it will return to normal. Although it gets hot, I do not get an overheat warning. Apple Tech support says it is not tested above 10,000 ft. I am a retired airline pilot and we had iPad certified for use in the cockpit which I find interesting if they are not tested to operate above 10,000 as in a depressurization.