If you have a fire in the luggage compartment of your three-box car while driving, you have to stop the car and step outside if you want to fight it. Much the same applies to fires in aircraft holds, except it’s not wise to step out of a plane in the air. This is why airlines want us to start traveling safer with batteries now, particularly the lithium kind.
Traveling Safer With Batteries For All Concerned
Passenger safety regulations are there to protect us all, not to be a nuisance. See yourself as the most important member of a team. If a check-in clerk asks if we have any batteries in our suitcase, we should declare them.
It’s true that passenger aircraft do have firefighting systems in their holds. But these spray the entire area, and cannot focus their attention on a particular spot. Lithium battery fires are stubborn, and need specialist attention too.
The moral of the story is please don’t travel with anything dangerous in your suitcase. That includes spare lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries, power banks, and phone battery charging cases according to IATA.
Traveling safer with batteries while flying is important, although the principles may be a pain at first. We’re all in it together high up in the air. If a battery malfunctions in the passenger compartment, the cabin staff know how to manage it.
Working With Flight Attendants for Safety’s Sake
Airlines want their passengers to arrive safely, after a pleasant flying experience. They know they can’t ask us to leave our phones and laptops at home. Although they do ask us to set them to flight mode, between take-off and landing.
This may sound a like a pain again, but there’s a good reason. A device on the internet can interfere with an aircraft’s avionic brain. This manages communication, navigation, and flight control. It’s a long shot, but we do want the aircraft to work properly.
Cabin staff have regular, intensive firefighting training. USA Today confirms this includes modules specifically aimed at lithium-ion battery fires. But flight attendants do need to be able to see what they are doing.
That’s why our laptops, phones, and battery power banks should be visible, whenever we use them on an aircraft. Let’s all commit to traveling safer with batteries in the air. That is right away, and for the sake of all of us on board!
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Fire Blankets and Li-Ion Battery Fires
