The International Air Transport Association report stressing the importance of airlines being prepared to deal with lithium battery incidents
Toxic smoke fills an airline passenger cabin during a lithium battery incident
It’s time all passenger aircraft carried AvSax lithium battery fire containment bags
All aircraft should carry lithium battery fire mitigation bags such as AvSax, says the world’s airline trades association.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents around 300 airlines – that’s 83% of all air traffic – and says it’s vital smaller, narrow body aircraft now have lithium battery thermal bags on board.
These are aircraft with a single aisle and three seats either side – the kind of aircraft used on short haul flights.
Some airlines are already geared up to deal with lithium battery emergencies as there are almost 17,000 AvSax thermal ‘burnbags’ now on board aircraft operated by more than 100 companies, some of them wider bodied long haul aircraft.
But the IATA says the bags are vital on smaller aircraft too, especially as they carry less crew.
In its guidance it states: “The operational environment for small aircraft (e.g. narrow body aircraft) can be very different with only one or two cabin crew on board the aircraft and, on some occasions, might even require assistance from passengers.
The IATA says all aircraft should carry as a minimum:
* Fire/heat resistant gloves.
* Fire containment bags which can be used to contain a damaged personal electronic device while it is being cooled off and isolated and can be stowed conveniently.
* Suitable receptacles such as jugs to transfer water from the galley or toilet to the incident area should insufficient bottled water be carried.
This is because the best way to deal with a lithium battery fire on board an aircraft is to have a thermal bag which both contains and cools the overheating device. AvSax is the only one which does this, making it the most popular worldwide by far and water needs to be added into the bag to keep the device cool.
The AvSax won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its innovation in the UK – the highest award any business can achieve.
All everyday personal electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops and iPads are powered by lithium batteries and they can overheat and catch fire which becomes a major problem in the confined space of a passenger aircraft at 35,000ft.
This can be caused by them being accidentally dropped down seats and then crushed or it may be the batteries and chargers have been bought cheaply on the internet and don’t meet safety standards.
When a lithium battery becomes faulty it goes into what’s known as thermal runaway and when this happens one cell in a battery can produce enough heat – up to 900°C (1652°F) – to cause adjacent cells to overheat. This can cause a lithium battery fire to flare repeatedly and they are then very difficult to put out which is why fire mitigation bags are so important, especially in the confined space of aircraft passenger cabins. AvSax are made from military grade material so will contain the device even if it explodes.
The UK’s regulatory organisation the Civil Aviation Authority says: “Since the development of the International Civil Aviation Organization guidance on dealing with an in-flight battery fire, new products designed for use in response to lithium battery thermal runaway events have become available.
“Products which provide both a cooling and containment capability are typically more aligned to the existing ICAO guidance as when used they are filled with water or other non-flammable liquid to act as a cooling agent.
“After knocking down flames it could conceivably take just a couple of seconds for a personal electronic device to be placed inside a containment bag, allowing it to be moved to a place of safety.
“Passengers could then return to their seats, mitigating potential unrelated safety hazards such as injury in the case of severe turbulence. Equally, the effect on flight crew in carrying out their duties following an event on the flight deck would be minimised.”
AvSax is the only lithium battery fire containment bag which provides this ‘cooling and containment capability.’
For more information on AvSax go to www.avsax.com
