US air travelers issued alert against battery hazard
23 Mar 2007
US transportation officials issued a alert to airline passengers yesterday asking them to be extra careful while transporting batteries for laptop computers, cell phones and other gadgets. The alert comes in the wake of two recent incidents of fires aboard aircraft.
On Sunday (18 March), a fire started after a battery overheated or ignited aboard an American Airlines flight leaving Argentina. However, the plane landed safely without injuries. Earlier, on Feb. 10, a small fire broke out in the overhead bin of a JetBlue Airlines flight, which also the crew was able to extinguish. One or more loose batteries in the luggage apparently caused the fire, officials said.
The Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents 60,000 pilots at 40 airlines, also issued a safety alert to its members yesterday advising them how to combat battery fires.
The transportation officials from the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said they issued the safety advisory because of concerns about the potential for battery-related fires.
Among the agency's recommendations: keep batteries in their original packaging or installed in their devices, keep loose batteries covered with insulating tape or put each one in its own protective case or plastic bag to prevent it from contacting metal. The agency also asked passengers to keep batteries in boarding luggage and not checked bags, because fires are easier to fight in aircraft cabins.
