Almost as indispensable as mobile phones themselves, portable or powerbanks, have become many popular. However, as the use increases, security is questioned, especially within aircraft. Concerns are not for any reason, as incidents involving overheating of portable laptops have happened more often.
One of those The last cases happened on a Hong Kong Airlines flightwho had to force emergency landing in China for a fire inside the aircraft, according to Bloomberg. Although the company did not report what was the cause of the fire, videos circulated on social networks showed burned luggage space and aroused the suspicion that the fire could have started in a power bank. The case was given Hong Kong to establish new rules for transporting the objects, which will take effect in April.
The risk associated with portable chargers gained appearance after an Air Busan plan caught fire in January, suspected that a power bank caused the incident. In response, the South Korean authorities came to demand that passengers seal the ports of the gates or transport them in plastic bags.
South Korea strengthened the rules for transporting lithium batteries in aircraft in early March, which highlights a growing risk of flights all over the world due to batteries used on mobile phones and electronic cigarettes that may be wrong and produce smoke, fire or extreme heat.
Last year, three incidents were registered for two weeks of overheating lithium batteries in aircraft globally by the US federal aviation administration, compared to just under one per week in 2018.
A long time ago, aviation recognizes that increasingly used batteries are a safety problem, and the rules are regularly strengthened in response to accidents.
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As a rule, which was valid on March 1, passengers of South Korean airlines should keep the power banks and electronic cigarettes in their hands and not in the upper compartments in the cabins. Units should not be loaded on board and the battery quantity and strength boundaries will be applied.
Passengers will be able to take up to five 100 watts-hours portable batteries, while batteries with more than 160 watts are not allowed on board. Batteries must also be stored in transparent plastic bags, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Hundreds on each plane
Metallic lithium and ion lithium batteries are types of non-re-connected and rechargeable batteries found on devices such as laptops, mobile phones, tablets, watches, power seats and electronic cigarettes.
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Passengers on a complete flight may have hundreds of them.
Manufacture or harmful errors, such as crushing a telephone in space between floor chairs or exposure to extreme temperatures, can cause short circuit and rapid overheating.
The result can be heat, smoke and fire, and they can even explode in a “high -threat gel energy expulsion and parts of the unit that acts as scratch,” says Flight Safety Foundation.
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In 2016, the UN Airline Agency, ICAO, banned passenger planes from wearing lithium batteries as a cargo. This occurred after the deadly accidents from an UPS freight ship in Dubai in 2010 and an Asiana Airlines load plan in South Korea 2011 after intense fires began in the basements that transported these batteries.
Current aviation standards say that power banks and personal electronic appliances should travel in the cabin, not in the sent luggage so that any errors can be resolved.
A research report in December 2024 from the European Union Aviation Agency (EASA) found that “lithium batteries out of compliance that are constantly traveling in the basement luggage” and that the support of the basement bag must be improved.
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The sector is investigating new detection methods, including the use of snow dogs.
(with Bloomberg and Reuters)