BRIEFly Speaking: Lithium Battery Cargo Carriage Hearing

Air Safety Week,  July 17, 2006  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

The NTSB held a two-day hearing on the transportation of lithium batteries July 12-13. The webcast is available on the NTSB website. The hearing was part of an ongoing investigation into the fiery destruction of a UPS DC-8 at Philadelphia International Airport on February 7, 2006. The crew received a cargo hold smoke warning on final approach and the ensuing fire on the ground was very difficult to extinguish. Its cargo included bulk lithium ion batteries.

The hazardous bulk shipping of lithium batteries was covered in ASW Dec. 6, 2004 ("ALPA Calls for Tighter Controls Over Lithium Battery Shipments"). ASW has covered (see table) - and now the NTSB will re-cover - the history of lithium ion batteries, the ever-increasing use of them and the hazards posed by their bulk carriage. Among the accidents and incidents caused by the batteries, the NTSB is unlikely to discuss the South African Airways Flt 295 747 Combi that went down off Mauritius on 28 Nov. 1987. It had been confirmed by manifest that the aircraft was carrying a bulk shipment of lithium batteries from Taiwan to South Africa.

The 747 was about to, or had just begun, its final descent into Mauritius when the first sign of trouble emerged. It's not known for sure that smoke overcame the crew before impact. The fire was believed to have originated in a passenger deck cargo container. At the time, main deck containers were not required to have the same degree of fire protection as those in the cargo hold; the thinking being that the crew has access to the main deck containers in an emergency. These rules were changed after this crash. Although the ignition source was never positively identified, the lithium batteries were not considered to be hazardous ? at the time ? and so never got the attention they deserved.

At a recent conference in Japan, one unlucky user had his Dell laptop burst into flames. An eyewitness on the scene is quoted as saying "The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes." Luckily, no one was hurt. The laptop's battery had exploded in a powerful demonstration of the lithium battery hazard. (see imagery at www.theinquirer.net/?article=32550. Dell said its engineers examined and tested what remained of the flaming notebook computer to find the source of the problem. They concluded that the fire was caused by a faulty lithium ion battery cell, but that the problem was unrelated to a recall last year of similar notebook batteries by the company and several other computer makers.

"It's very, very rare to have a thermal incident," Mr. Pearson said. Dell said that it found no pattern of battery failure and that the Pennsylvania incident was more likely caused by a chip problem and hadn't originated in the batteries. The company also directed reporters' attention to a statement by Norm England, chief executive of the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association, which said, "Based on the millions of lithium ion batteries in use today and the exceptionally small number of cases in which a battery malfunction has occurred, we believe these batteries are safe and reliable." He also said that more than two billion lithium ion cells would be manufactured in 2006.

However, it does cause pause for thought. At any one time the number of lithium batteries being carried in devices within passenger luggage aboard one 747 aircraft would normally number in the hundreds.

ASW dated : 6-Dec-04
Coverage / Story Title : ALPA call for tighter controls over lithium battery
shipments

ASW dated : 6-Dec-04
Coverage / Story Title : The Lithium Battery Fire Hazard

ASW dated : 6-Dec-04
Coverage / Story Title : HAZMAT and cargo conflagrations - FEDEX Hub container
fire (lithium batteries)

ASW dated : 26-Jul-04
Coverage / Story Title : Inflight Fire Hazards of Lithium Batteries ("It can
burn through the aircraft skin") and "Extinguishing a Lithium Battery Fire"

ASW dated : 23-Aug-04
Coverage / Story Title : Rebuttal by a vested interest of 26 Jul 04 ASW story
("Our Batteries are Safe")

ASW dated : 18-Oct-04
Coverage / Story Title : Inflight Fire Hazards to ETOPS (of Lithium Batteries)

ASW dated : 19-Apr-04
Coverage / Story Title : Inflight Defibrillator Lithium Battery Changeover
forced (Halon will not extinguish Lithium Battery Fires)

ASW dated : 20-Dec-04
Coverage / Story Title : Prohibition on Transport of Lithium Batteries aboard
passenger aircraft (followed DOTIG Report of 19 Nov 04 on the hazard posed and
the need for action)

ASW dated : 17-Oct-05
Coverage / Story Title : More Lithium Battery Woes (reviews FAA's proposed
Advisory Circulars)

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

COPYRIGHT 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning