Almost as indispensable as cell phones themselves, portable portable, or powerbanks, have become many popular. As its use increases, however, its safety is contested, especially within airplanes. The concern is not for no reason, since incidents involving overheating of portable portable chargers have happened more often.
One of the most recent cases happened on a Hong Kong Airlines flight, which 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 that circulated on social networks showed burnt luggage compartment and raised the suspicion that the fire could have started in a PowerBank. The case caused Hong Kong to establish new rules for transporting the items, which come into force in April.
The risk associated with portable chargers gained prominence after an Air Busan plane 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 porters or transport them in plastic bags.
South Korea reinforced the rules on the transportation of lithium batteries in airplanes in early March, highlighting a growing risk to flights worldwide due to batteries used on cell phones and electronic cigarettes that may have malfunction and produce smoke, fire or extreme heat.
Last year, three incidents for fortnightly overheating of lithium batteries in airplanes were registered 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 concern, and the rules are periodically reinforced in response to accidents.
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In the 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 of the cabins. Devices should not be charged on board, and battery quantity and strength limits will be applied.
Passengers will be able to take up to five 100 Watts-hour portable batteries, while batteries with more than 160 watts-hours will not be allowed on board. Batteries will also need to 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-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries found on devices such as laptops, cell phones, tablets, watches, power seats and electronic cigarettes.
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Passengers on a full flight may be carrying hundreds of them.
Manufacturing or damaging failures, such as crushing a telephone in space between plane seats 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 an “high -hot gel energy expulsion and parts of the device acting as shrapnel,” says Flight Safety Foundation.
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In 2016, the UN Aviation Agency, Icao, prohibited passenger planes from carrying lithium batteries such as Cargo. This occurred after the fatal accidents of a UPS freighter in Dubai in 2010 and an Asiana Airlines load plane in South Korea in 2011 after intense fires began in the basements that transported these batteries.
Current aviation standards say that power banks and personal electronic devices should travel in the cabin, not in the dispatched luggage, so that any malfunction can be resolved.
A December 2024 research report from the European Union Aviation Agency (EASA) found that “lithium batteries out of compliance persistently travel in the basement baggage” and that the backing of the basement baggage needs to be enhanced.
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The sector is exploring new detection methods, including the use of sniffer dogs.
(with Bloomberg and Reuters)