However, a recent FAA funding bill failed to ban shipping such batteries by air.
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Hart pointed out that close fires like this increase the damage that it creates and, in turn, decreases the flight crew’s ability to respond to it. If up on flame, these lithium-ion batteries can go as hot as 1100 degrees which are basically the melting point of aluminum, a material typically used in aircraft frame.
The Federal Aviation Administration urged airlines on Tuesday to reconsider the risks of transporting lithium ion batteries in cargo.
“The FAA strongly supports these recommendations”, the alert continued. “Operators that have implemented a formal Safety Management System (SMS) should accomplish a Safety Risk Assessment (SRA), in accordance with the Safety Risk Management process in its SMS”.
Cargo companies such as United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. have not followed the passenger carriers in banning the shipments. “However, the 2012 FAA reauthorization contained language, Section 828, which precludes the agency from being able to regulate this issue”, the Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement. FAA research shows rechargeable lithium-ion batteries can explode so violently that they could shear open an aircraft fuselage.
Most of the bigger airlines are already taking action in this regard.
“What is needed now is tough enforcement of these rules”. Spare lithium batteries are not allowed in checked luggage.
“Too many manufacturers and shippers, especially in certain regions of the world, ignore existing labeling and packaging requirements”, the groups continued. Then, a series of battery fires in the batteries of Boeing 787s prompted the FAA to ground the entire Dreamliner fleet in 2013.
At the behest of the battery and consumer electronics industry, Congress passed a law in 2012 prohibiting the government from issuing regulations regarding the shipment of lithium batteries that are more stringent than standards issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations panel.
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Lithium ion batteries power our phones, laptops, and cameras — but if handled improperly, they also have the power to potentially bring down a plane.
