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Passengers have been warned not to fly with fully charged devices due to an increased cabin fire risk by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration.
The safety regulator has warned travellers everyday items like mobile phones, laptops, tablets and smartwatches all contain lithium batteries, which can be potential fire hazards.
Fire safety branch manager Robert Ochs said the batteries had “high energy density” so there was a lot of electrical power in a relatively small pack on the Air Up There podcast which was posted on X, formerly Twitter, this week.
Fire safety branch manager Robert Ochs said the batteries had “high energy density” so there was a lot of electrical power in a relatively small pack.
“They can however undergo a failure mode called thermal runaway,” Ochs explained.
“So this thermal runaway occurs if there is an internal short circuit within the battery itself where energy will start to flow within the battery.
“That creates a good amount of heat and if that heat can’t be dissipated then the heat just keeps building and building to the point where the cell fails.
“You can have everything from fires to explosions and it’s a very, very dangerous situation.”
He said the main difference between a fire occurring in the air opposed to the ground was the inability to escape a fire if it was on a plane.
“If you do notice any of these signs (devices heating up)… get the attention of the cabin crew immediately, they are trained to handle these type of situations.”
He said the best way to avoid the situation was to turn the device off or travel with it at 30 per cent or lower.
The event is rare but it does happen, Ochs said.
