US testing of lithium batteries alarms aviation officials

[fungus]

Is this another case of putting the horse on the jockey by waiting until October to take action?

"US testing shows aircraft safety systems can't prevent lithium-ion battery fire, explosion".

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- International aviation officials are trying to quickly come up with safer packaging for cargo shipments of lithium-ion batteries on passenger planes after U.S. testing confirmed that aircraft fire suppression systems can't prevent overheated batteries from causing powerful explosions and fires.

The hazardous cargo committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency, met this week in Montreal. Officials familiar with the discussions said the panel heard a detailed presentation by aircraft manufacturers and pilot unions on the potential for the batteries to cause an explosion and resulting fire capable of destroying a plane".

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/us-testing-lithium-batteries-alarms-200400053.html

Note:

"If the working group cannot come up with such packaging, officials said they consider it likely that a formal proposal to ban bulk battery shipments from passenger planes will be offered at an ICAO meeting on dangerous cargo in October".

Can we afford to delay/wait? In the meantime it would seem to be status quo. Sitting on hands, or organising a committee to 'look into it' has unfortunately led to numerous disasters in the past.

[Oblivian]

I have a bike light pack enroute from China that dawned on me the other day may get stuck at customs, or not arrive at all due to it containing a battery pack :/

Theres generally 2 things that can set them off, damaged cells exposed to moisture. Or badly packed and shorts caused. Neither of which happen in non-replacable devices and very infrequently on new unplugged, not damaged packs. Which kinda sucks for the blanket cover.

Had a mate had something stopped at the border (it had already crossed on plane etc!) because it had a picture of batteries on the pack, but weren't included! It was just a device that needed batteries.

This is a fairly extensive list of who does/does not like batteries sent. https://support.fasttech.com/FAQ/wha...ipping-methods

[fungus]

Oblivian,

An interseting perspective. But as we all know, anything coming from China/non English speaking countries can and do contain errors in translation. I would hazard a guess that it goes the other way as well. I've seen some real doozies in my time. 'Batteries included' could well be mistranslated to 'batteries not included' either on the packaging or on the paperwork documentation (or these days, the computer trail) if not both. Something as simple as a few of these items packed together could well present an issue.

As we well know from experience most accidents occur via a series of errors. Would anyone wish to be on that aircraft knowing that it is the one-in-a-million (or whatever figure it may be) accident waiting to happen? Unfortunately sometimes we have to accept blanket rules being in place in an attempt to prevent that odd occurrence. Or do we wait for the accident investigation team to determine that it should have been?

I hope I'm understanding your point correctly. And I do sympathise with anyone in the position of waiting for an article to be delivered- I've been there. I also think the article I quoted is dealing with the large shipment of particular (lithium-ion) batteries under particular circumstances as against individual items that might/might not contain batteries.

Hope you get your package mate.
Regards,
Gregg