I note with concern that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has found itself in hot water with the Federal Aviation Administration over its air shipping practices. Flight Global reports:
An improperly labeled fiberboard box containing 33 lithium battery-powered electronic devices has landed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in hot water with the US Federal Aviation Administration, and highlights the ongoing risk of shipping the batteries on cargo aircraft.
The safety regulator has levied a $175,000 civil penalty on MIT, alleging that the university had shipped the box via FedEx from Cambridge to Seattle on 25 August 2009.
"The package was discovered with smoke and flames coming from it while it was moving on a conveyor at the FedEx sorting facility in Medford, Massachusetts," the FAA says in a 2 September release.
"Two of the devices in the package heated and melted, which caused the surrounding cushioning and packaging to catch fire," the FAA continued. "Because the package was not properly labeled and marked, Federal Express employees did not know the shipment contained hazardous material. They made several unsuccessful attempts to extinguish the flames with a fire extinguisher."
The FAA notes that the batteries "were not packaged in a manner that would prevent a short-circuit that could create sparks or generate a dangerous quantity of heat", nor was the box marked as containing dangerous goods.
. . .
According to IFALPA, lithium batteries have been responsible for over 40 reported incidents since 1990, involving smoke, fire, extreme heat or explosion in aircraft cabins and cargo holds. Two pilots were killed in September 2010 when their UPS Boeing 747-400F crashed near Dubai after an in-flight cargo hold fire and smoke in the cockpit. Investigators determined that there were ion battery packs onboard that had not been labeled as hazardous materials.
There's more at the link.
Modern batteries pose a very great risk of fire compared to their older counterparts, so much so that the FAA has issued a special safety alert about them. This has been accentuated by the crash in July this year of an Asiana Boeing 747 freighter, also carrying lithium batteries. A fire in the cargo area appears to have caused the crash.
What worries me is that such batteries are shipped by many people in checked baggage, inside their electronic devices. Others are boxed for shipment without being identified by warning labels, and shipped by private citizens and corporations using public carriers. In the absence of such warning labels, they may be included in routine cargo shipments, which are often loaded into the holds of passenger aircraft. It can only be a matter of time until one of them causes a fire aboard an airliner, perhaps leading to a large-scale loss of life.
I don't know the answer to this problem, but I hope we can find one before the worst happens.
Peter
5 comments:
Love the blog -- you provide humor and thought-provoking articles, a wonderful combination.
I need to speak up, as a battery weenie -- my industry does not need more regulation on shipping; the feds (& IATA, ICAO, IMAO, etc.) need to enforce the existing regulations, which they are doing in this case (though these were not max-per-package fines). As a responsible shipper, I would like to see the frequent offenders (especially offshore, direct to end-user vendors) get the same treatment, and often. I've often considered ordering batteries from frequent offenders and drop-shipping them to the DOT, but I recognize that would not result in fines... grrr, our government at work. Most of the "incidents" involving lithium batteries (primary and secondary) can be shown to have resulted from not following the existing regulations (or complete disregard by the baggage handlers).
Modern batteries, built by reputable, responsible firms are no more dangerous than they have ever been -- the energy contained per unit of volume and mass is higher, admittedly, but the safety devices are more effective. Personally, I've gotten worse (careless) injuries dealing with "mature" battery chemistries like NiCd or Lead-Acid that generally don't have safeties. If you can find reliable data (our industry struggles with this), what you are seeing is that there are more incidents because there are more batteries.
My personal opinion is that members of the pilot associations that desire that no one be allowed to transport batteries ought to be forbidden the "luxury" of iPads, etc. in the cockpit -- or electronic flight control systems with battery backups. The associations are not being rational!
Ion Lithium batteries are definitely not toys, especially the ones I work with in the oilfield.
Case in point: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/article_8db45131-656e-5abd-abbb-0790a63674a7.html
"One of two men injured Saturday when an ion lithium battery exploded at a Conroe plant has died, Conroe Fire Marshal Mike Legoudes said Monday evening."
I routinely ship control panels that run on lithium batteries via FedEx. We are allowed to ship up to 2 of these batteries in a box when we return them for repair. I have gone a step further, and remove all batteries when I return them.
Maybe it's my ignorance, but I don't see much difference in a slightly used battery compared to a new one. New one's ship all the time with new phones, laptops, etc. The shipment of used ones is regulated as I understand. I've never seen a dangerous goods label on a new laptop or phone.
Lithium is VERY reactive, you can watch it oxidize in front of your eyes. Something that loves oxygen that much is very dangerous. Check out this video from Braniac's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCk0lYB_8c0
Thank you Mr. Tyson for your chemistry around the farm back in High School. It gave me a healthy respect for the left side of the periodic table.
As a pilot, I look at lithium-ion batteries the same as I look at oxygen generators and liquid nitrogen (for "cow-in-a-can"). How are they packaged, are they loaded correctly, are they labeled as what they are?
I would dearly love to know how often the lack of English (or other language for that matter) literacy contributes to mis-loading of hazmat. As I recall, in the case of the AirTrans flight in Florida it was considered a contributing factor in the accident. If the folks packing the boxes or loading/unloading them can't read to know that they need to label or give special handling to things, it would explain a number of things I've read about or experienced.
LittleRed1
Do we know what kind of lithium batteries they were? I use lithium-polymer batteries in my model airplanes and it has been well documented how dangerous they can be. I treat them with kid gloves and great respect. Look up lithium-polymer batteries on youtube to see the fireworks.
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