The last place you want a lithium battery fire is in a passenger plane cruising at 35,000ft
An award-winning AvSax lithium battery fire mitigation bag
A power bank being placed inside an AvSax thermal fire ‘hotbag’
A passenger plane had to make an emergency landing after a power bank overheated and smoke started to pour from it.
The Sichuan Airlines Airbus was on an internal flight in China from Chengdu to Xiamen and cruising at 35,000ft on Saturday, November 30, 2024, when a power bank carried by a passenger began to emit smoke.
According to the Aviation Herald, the crew immediately diverted to the southern China city of Guilin where the aircraft landed safely about 30 minutes later.
After a delay of a couple of hours it took off again to continue the flight to Xiamen.
When lithium batteries overheat or are damaged they go into thermal runaway and when this happens one cell in a battery overheats it can produce enough heat – up to 900°C (1652°F) – to cause adjacent cells to overheat.
The heat generated by chemical reactions inside the battery causes even more heat, leading to a continuous rise in temperature. This can result in the battery venting and releasing toxic flammable gases, exploding or catching fire and because they burn at such a high temperature they are very difficult to put out.
This is why many airline companies are now equipped with AvSax lithium battery thermal fire mitigation bags which are now on board almost 17,000 aircraft globally and have been used in action dozens of times.
When they are deployed the aircraft is safe and can continue to its scheduled destination without having to make a diversion or emergency landing which is both costly and highly disruptive for passengers.
AvSax were devised in the UK by Environmental Defence Systems Ltd based in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, and are the most widely deployed thermal fire containment bags in the airline industry.
AvSax won the Queen’s Award for innovation in the UK, the highest accolade any product or business can get.
For more on AvSax go to https://avsax.com/
